Tag: Criminal Justice Reform

The U.S. Criminal Justice System in the Pandemic Era and Beyond: Taking Stock of Efforts to Maintain Safety and Justice Through the COVID-19 Pandemic and Prepare for Future Challenges | RAND

The Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative convened a set of workshops with justice practitioners to take stock of responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. They identified key challenges, system innovations, and lessons for the future.

— Read on www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA108-8.html

Targeted Fines and Fees Against Low-Income Communities of Color: Civil Rights and Constitutional Implications

The excessive imposition of fines and fees can damage judicial credibility and the relationships between law enforcement and residents. In the effort to raise revenue through fines and fees, municipalities in effect discount concerns about the judicial system’s role in our “country’s commitment to the principles of fundamental fairness and to ensuring that the scales of our legal system measure justice, not wealth.’” Chief among these concerns are the harms to due process and judicial ethics issues that arise when states depend too heavily on court fees, potentially conflicting with judicial independence, and diverting attention from courts’ essential functions. Additionally, some state legislatures throughout the country are not properly funding local courts, which leaves local courts to bring in revenue to support their operating budgets, undermining the public’s faith in the justice system. The reliance on revenue from fines and fees distorts incentives and can lead to the misallocation of public safety resources. The recent increase in using private companies to collect fines and fees further exacerbates these issues.

www.usccr.gov/pubs/docs/Statutory_Enforcement_Report2017.pdf

Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ)

This is an EXCELLENT resource rand reports from this webpage have been posted before on this blog. The webpage can be accessed HERE.

For example there is a recent report where there is a publication that crime in 2020 WENT DOWN???

In 2020, a year defined by the COVID-19 pandemic,the crime rate in California’s 72 largest cities declined by an average of 7 percent, falling to a historic low level(FBI, 2021). From 2019 to 2020, 48 cities showed declines in Part I violent and property felonies, while 24 showed increases. The 2020urban crime decline follows a decade of generally falling property and violent crime rates. These declines coincided with monumental criminal justice reforms that have lessened penalties for low-level offenses and reduced prison and jail populations

As reported in: CALIFORNIA URBAN CRIME DECLINED IN 2020 AMID SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC UPHEAVAL

The report is available HERE

The Pandemic Prompted Marilyn Mosby to Stop Prosecuting Low-Level Crimes. Will Other D.A.s Follow? – The Appeal

Or is the pandemic an excuse?

Prosecutors across the country have begun declining low-level cases in an effort to reduce racial inequity and to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
— Read on theappeal.org/the-pandemic-prompted-marilyn-mosby-to-stop-prosecuting-low-level-crimes-will-other-d-a-s-follow/