For
Immediate Release:
Thursday,
October 1, 2015
BIPARTISAN
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM BILL INTRODUCED IN SENATE
New
Legislation Focuses on Reducing Recidivism and Mandatory Minimum Sentences for
Drug Offenses, New Early Release Programs, Increasing Judicial
Discretion
Washington
D.C. – Today, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate announced a sweeping
criminal justice reform bill to address mass incarceration. Senate Judiciary
Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) led the cooperative effort that, if passed, would
reduce mandatory minimum sentences, limit “Three Strikes” convictions and other
determinate sentences, and expand judicial discretion. It would also increase
education and job training programs, potentially reducing recidivism, among
other improvements. The bill was constructed and co-sponsored by Sens. Dick
Durbin (D-IL), Mike Lee (R-UT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), John Cornyn (R-TX),
Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tim Scott
(R-SC), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
“In an
age of intense partisan conflict, it’s heartening to see lawmakers across the
spectrum working together on restoring justice in this country,” said Maj. Neill Franklin (Ret.),
executive director for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a
group of criminal justice professionals working to end the drug war. “We could
reduce the impact that drug prohibition has on people of color and for so many
others who have been victims of unreasonable and ineffective drug prohibition
laws. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but this is a considerable step in
the right direction.”
The new
bill would also retroactively apply the
Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 to offenders currently serving unduly long sentences
for crack cocaine. Through the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, harsh federal
mandatory minimum sentences were instituted to deter drug use in an era of
“tough on crime” mentality, but have recently come under fire by both the left
and right for being excessively punitive, ballooning the American prison
population, costing taxpayers billions, ignoring real solutions to drug abuse,
and fostering racially biased enforcement practices. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act
imposed a penalty for crack cocaine possession and distribution one
hundred times more
severe than the punishment for powder cocaine, despite the drugs being
essentially identical. The ratio was reduced to 18:1 through the Fair Sentencing
Act in 2010, but evidence points to a racially biased sentencing disparity that
has contributed to putting African American men in prison at a rate five times higher than
that of white men and resulted in the U.S. housing more prisoners than any other
nation. The new bill should offer hope for many who have continued to be
unfairly treated by the justice system through arbitrary mandatory minimum laws
even after the reforms of 2010.
Mandatory
minimum laws have also severely limited discretion judges have when deciding
punishment for drug cases. The new bill would offer more leeway in determining
appropriate sentences based on a defendant’s individual circumstances. Other provisions in the
bill include limiting solitary confinement for juveniles in federal facilities
and expanding mandatory minimum categories to include cases such as interstate
domestic violence.
LEAP is
committed to ending decades of failed policy that have wreaked havoc on public
safety, wasted significant law enforcement resources, and largely ignored the
public health crisis of addiction. The drug war has cost nearly two trillion
dollars, yielded only disastrous outcomes, and has ultimately distracted the
justice system from focusing on more important crimes.
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