Tag: Criminal Justice Reform

Law Enforcement Statutory Database

This website is part of the National Conference of State Legislators.

This section has legislative changes for police reform. Not all legislation becomes law. This website might me the best place to search for legislative changes constituting police reform. There is a search section to search different State Laws.

Law Enforcement Statutory Database
— Read on www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/law-enforcement-statutory-database.aspx

Evaluation of Utah’s .05 BAC Per Se Law

Is it me or do others notice too that increasing the penalty or lowering the threshold for the crime only works for a crime like Driving While Intoxicated for preventing people from driving drunk? It doesn’t work for drugs, or theft, or shoplifting but it works for DWI. Interesting. Lower the criteria for DWI thereby more people will be violating the law and it makes more people stop breaking the law. Enforce DWI laws and more people stop drinking and driving.

In the news shoplifting is rampant yet lawmakers and prosecutors want to raise the criteria for committing shoplifting and they don’t what to prosecute shoplifting after a person is arrested. Yet the argument is that shoplifting will go down?

Why does it work in just the opposite way for DWI? In most cases DWI is the same level of crime as shoplifting and they carry the same punishment for prison. DWI has powerful lobbying groups – anti-shoplifting doesn’t. DWI carries substantial state penalties in the form of thousands of dollars in fines, shoplifting doesn’t. DWI carries substantial penalties for car insurance – not shoplifting. For DWI you need an attorney, you don’t need an attorney for shoplifting especially if its your first one. Bottom line DWI costs about $9,000.00 in fines, insurance, attorney fees, shoplifting $0.00 and in some states they don’t even want to persecute shoplifting.

The crime of DWI was made more severe in an attempt to lower the number of people committing DWI and fatal crashes. The crime of shoplifting Is being treated less harshly so people stop stealing. Does this make sense?

Why don’t government treat DWI like shoplifting? Then there would probably be NO DWIs at all!!!

Results
Legislative Review. This indicated the motivation for lowering the BAC law from .08 to .05 was a desire to improve traffic safety. The majority of objections were based on hypothesized negative effects on the economy (e.g., alcohol sales, tax revenues, and tourism), the belief arrests for driving under the influence (DUI) would increase drastically for people who had “one or two drinks,” and the assumption there would be no safety benefits.

The report can be accessed HERE

Winnable Criminal Justice Reforms

CONTENTS

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/

(413) 527-0845

Expand alternatives to criminal justice system responses to social problems …………………………………1 Reduce the number of people entering the “revolving doors” of jails and prisons …………………………2

Improve sentencing structures and release processes to encourage

timely and successful releases from prison ……………………………………………………………………………..3

Reduce the footprint of the probation and parole system and support success on supervision…….5 Protect incarcerated people and families from exploitation by private contractors……………………….7 Promote physical and mental health among incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people………..7 Give all communities equal voice in how our justice system works ………………………………………………..9 Eliminate relics of the harmful and racist “war on drugs” ………………………………………………………………10

static.prisonpolicy.org/reports/winnable2021.pdf

The Civil Rights Implications of Cash Bail

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released the report, The Civil Rights Implications of Cash Bail which examines current approaches to reforming the pre-trial and bail systems in the U.S. criminal justice system. The report reveals that between 1970 and 2015, there was a 433% increase in the number of individuals who have been detained pre-trial, and pre-trial detainees represent a larger proportion of the total incarcerated population.

Among the report’s observations:

  • There were stark racial and gender disparities, with higher pre-trial detention rates and financial conditions of release imposed on Black and Latinx individuals, when compared with other demographic groups) and gender. Men are less likely than women to be granted non-financial release, for example, and face higher bail amounts.
  • More than 60% of defendants are detained pre-trial because they can’t afford to post bail.
  • The collateral consequences of pre-trial detention result in several negative consequences for detainees, including an increased likelihood of being convicted, an increased likelihood of housing insecurity, detrimental effects on employment, and an increased likelihood to engage in criminal conduct in the future.

“More than half-a-million unconvicted people sit in jails across the nation awaiting trial,” said Norma V. Cantú, Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. “Presumption of innocence is the bedrock of our criminal justice system, with liberty the rule and pre-trial detention intended to be a ‘carefully limited exception,’”1 she observed. “Under the current bail system, it has become the norm.”

The Commission held a public virtual briefing on this subject in February 2021 to collect information from subject matter experts such as government officials, academics, legal experts, law enforcement officials, criminal justice advocates, and impacted persons. The Maryland, Oregon and Kentucky State Advisory Committees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights also collected and provided testimony on related civil rights issues in their respective jurisdictions.

See report HERE

Smash & Grab Retail

When police busted a shoplifting ring operating out of a liquor store last spring, they calculated that the dozen or so people involved had swiped at least $375,000 worth of goods from retailers such as Walmart, Lowe’s, and Walgreens. The pair heading the ring relied on small-time thieves, including several with drug arrest records, to launch brazen “grab-and-go” operations in which they snatched expensive goods and then raced out of stores and fled in cars with phony license plates. Though police and prosecutors often categorize shoplifting as a nonviolent crime, the gang’s sprees resulted in several physical confrontations, including one in which a gang member assaulted a store employee with a stun gun. This may sound similar to the organized smash-and-grab lootings that have plagued high-end retailers in San Francisco and other Northern California communities recently, but this gang was operating out of Daytona Beach, Florida—and had done so for nearly two years.
— Read on www.city-journal.org/smash-and-grab-retail

Denver Task Force to Reimagine Policing and Public Safety

Overview: The Task Force to Reimaging Policing and Public Safety is a community based initiative arising out of the tragic aftermath of the killing of George Floyd on May  25, 2020 in Minneapolis and the subsequent nationwide Black Lives Matter solidarity protests demanding the structural transformation of policing. This Task Force is the result of conversations from recent town halls with community members, faith leaders, service  providers, elected officials and Denver Department of Public Safety to move toward  action and healing.

At the website there are several videos from the different task force meetings and several different reports available (including the Task Force Report). Take some to explore what the website has to offer.

The website can be accessed HERE
The Task Force report can be accessed HERE