Criminal Justice System

Our criminal laws, while facially neutral, are enforced in a manner that is massively and pervasively biased. The injustices of the criminal justice system threaten to render irrelevant fifty years of hard-fought civil rights progress.

Items 61 - 67 of 67

New Mexico Repeals Death Penalty

March 19, 2009 - Posted by The Leadership Conference

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson signed legislation today abolishing the death penalty in New Mexico, making it the second state to repeal the death penalty since a U.S. Supreme Court decision reinstated it in 1976. Fourteen other states do not permit the death penalty.

The new law takes effect July 1 and replaces the death penalty with a life sentence that has no possibility of parole. It only applies to crimes committed after that date, and doesn't affect the sentences of the two men currently on death row in New Mexico.

Richardson said he signed the bill because of the risk that innocent people could be executed. "More than 130 death row inmates have been exonerated in the past 10 years in this country, including four New Mexicans — a fact I cannot ignore."

Diann Rust-Tierney, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, applauded New Mexico's repeal of the death penalty and encouraged other states to consider doing the same, pointing out that "the death penalty drains resources from state coffers which could otherwise be used for much-needed increases in budgets for law enforcement, neighborhood policing, adult and juvenile crime prevention, substance abuse treatment and counseling, as substance abuse often leads to crime, and murder victims’ families’ support programs."

Six other states currently have pending legislation to abolish the death penalty. New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007

Link to this post

Report: One in 100 Adults Is Incarcerated in the U.S.

March 4, 2009 - Posted by The Leadership Conference

More than one in every 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison, causing huge financial burdens on states, according to a recent report by Pew Center on the States.

In 2008, states collectively spent more than $49 billion on corrections, which is more than four times the money spent on corrections 20 years ago. Coupled with the economic downturn, the high cost of incarceration may force states to cut spending in other areas like education and health care.

The report also noted that the increase in incarceration rates is a result of policies that put more people – often low-income and minority low-level offenders – in prison, rather than a rise in crime.

"More and more states are beginning to rethink their reliance on prisons for lower-level offenders and finding strategies that are tough on crime without being so tough on taxpayers," said Adam Gelb, director of the Pew's Public Safety Performance Project.

Faced with these rising costs, some states are experimenting with new ways to handle people who break the law. Kansas and Texas, for example, adopted community-based programs such as reporting centers, treatment facilities and electronic monitoring systems as a way to save money.

Link to this post

New York to Reform Harsh Drug Sentencing Laws

March 4, 2009 - Posted by The Leadership Conference

New York is on the verge of abolishing harsh drug sentencing laws that have long been criticized for their disproportionate impact on low-income and minority people.

The laws, passed in the 1970s under former Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, require judges to deliver fixed sentences, often called "mandatory minimums," to people convicted of possession of even small amounts of illegal drugs.

Although New York has already repealed the harshest aspects of the laws, legislators aim to completely dismantle the laws by restoring judges' ability to give appropriate sentences to drug offenders. Bills in both the Senate and the Assembly will give judges the option to send drug offenders to substance-abuse treatment programs instead of prison and will also allow thousands of prisoners convicted of nonviolent drug offenses to apply to have their sentences shortened.

Governor David A. Patterson expressed strong support for eliminating the laws in his January 7 State of the State address: "We still have to expand treatment services; we have to give judges the opportunity to put low level offenders into treatment, and we have to make sure that our prisons are housing the most egregious of our drug policy offenders."

Link to this post

LCCR President Wade Henderson Discusses Criminal Justice Reform

March 3, 2009 - Posted by The Leadership Conference

Larry Gold, Douglas Ganzler and Wade Henderson speaking on a panel

From left to right: Larry Gold, JCPA board member; Douglas F. Ganzler, Maryland attorney general; and Wade Henderson, LCCR president and CEO

Yesterday, Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the LCCR, spoke at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs national conference about the need to reform the criminal justice system in three areas that disproportionately affect low-income and minority people: mandatory minimum drug sentencing laws, racial profiling, and the incarceration of juveniles.

"For Americans to retain confidence in our criminal justice system, individuals must be treated fairly and equitably at every stage of the process, from the initial investigation of a crime by the police officer walking a beat to prosecution and punishment. Today, our criminal justice system strays far from that ideal as unequal treatment of minorities characterizes every stage of the process. There is much that needs to be done to make our criminal justice system one that works and works fairly for all," said Henderson.

Currently, African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of White males and Hispanics are incarcerated at nearly double the rate of White males. Approximately one in 17 African-American males and one in 45 Latino males (compared to one in 90 whites) will be incarcerated before the age of 18.

Link to this post

Maryland Senate Begins Debate on Bill to Repeal the Death Penalty

March 3, 2009 - Posted by The Leadership Conference

Today, the Maryland Senate voted to begin debate on a bill that will repeal the death penalty in the state.

Governor Martin O'Malley, a strong opponent of the death penalty, wrote the bill and had pushed for a vote in the Senate.

In November 2008, the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment recommended that the state abolish the death penalty because it is costly and because of the "real possibility" that the state might execute innocent people. The commission found that the average case where the death penalty is sought costs $1.9 million more than a life imprisonment sentence. The commission's report also cited a racial, economic and geographical bias in the administration of the death penalty.

Last month, the Montana Senate passed a bill to abolish the death penalty and the New Mexico House of Representatives passed a bill that would replace the death penalty with a sentence of life in prison without parole. Five other states currently have pending legislation to abolish the death penalty.

Link to this post

Death Penalty on the Verge of Being Repealed in Two States

February 18, 2009 - Posted by Tyler Lewis

The tide may be shifting on the death penalty as two states are close to abolishing it.

Brookings Creates Plan to Provide Jobs for Ex-Prisoners and Reduce the Nation's Prison Population

February 13, 2009 - Posted by The Leadership Conference

Every year, the nation's prisons release more than 700,000 prisoners, but far too many of them wind up in poverty or back in prison.

A proposal by The Brookings Institution aims to reverse this trend and reduce the U.S. prison population by creating a national program that will improve employment opportunities and help ex-prisoners re-enter society successfully.