Two bipartisan bills designed reduce the bulging federal prison population are working their way through the Senate. There are more than 250,000 inmates in federal lockups, nearly half of them serving time for drug crimes.
The Smarter Sentencing Act: This bill was introduced by Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Mile Lee, R-Utah. The act would cut the current mandatory minimum sentences of 5, 10 and 20 years for certain nonviolent drug offenses in half. It would give judges the discretion to sentence defendants to terms less than the mandatory minimum. It also opens the door for the early release of inmates currently serving time for crack cocaine offenses.
The Recidivism Reduction and Public Safety Act: This bill was introduced by Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and John Cornyn, R-Tex. The act would allow low-risk inmates to earn early release credits for participating in education, job training and drug treatment programs.
I have some reservations about both acts. Whitehouse and Cornyn have tried to make their bill palatable by naming it a Public Safety act. How does their act promote public safety? Both as a former law enforcement officer and criminal justice educator, I know one thing for certain: A criminal who is locked up cannot prey on the public, unless someone has smuggled a cellphone to him.
However, my reservations about the two bills happen to concern those low-risk and nonviolent designations. Those categories have not worked out too well with California’s prison realignment program.
As Californians have learned much to their chagrin, those designations are based only on the inmate’s most recent arrest, thereby ignoring arrests for violent crimes that are listed on his rap sheet. And then, yesterday’s nonviolent and low-risk offenders may very well become violent and high-risk offenders tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment