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The House Judiciary Committee announced the formation of a criminal justice reform initiative that will examine various pieces of legislation that would address issues including over-criminalization, sentencing reform, and prison reform.
This is not new territory for the committee. Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) established an Over-Criminalization Task Force in the last Congress, led by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), that held a dozen hearings where members heard testimony and assessed the approximately 4,500 federal crimes currently on the books. The new initiative will largely continue the work of the previous task force, and take a broader look at the justice system.
"Criminal justice is about punishing law-breakers, protecting the innocent, the fair administration of justice, and fiscal responsibility in a manner that is responsive to the needs of communities. Congress has the responsibility to ensure that our criminal justice system metes out appropriate and effective justice," Goodlatte and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.) said in a press release on Wednesday. "The Committee’s initiative will pursue responsible, common sense criminal justice reforms to make sure our federal laws and regulations punish wrongdoers, protect individual freedom, work as efficiently and fairly as possible, do not duplicate state efforts, and do not waste taxpayer dollars."
Goodlatte explained that the committee "will work on a bipartisan basis to identify necessary improvements to our criminal justice system" and, beginning this month, "will hear from any Member of the House of Representatives who has an idea to improve our nation’s criminal justice system."
"The goal of the Committee’s initiative is to produce strong, bipartisan legislation so that the criminal justice system better reflects core American values and works for America," he added.
Momentum for true justice reform is building in Congress. This initiative may be a step toward getting some of legislation that has already been introduced some serious traction in the House of Representatives. With this in mind, here are three bills for which FreedomWorks has released letters of support that the House Judiciary Committee should diligently consider.
Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act: Though the initiative is primarily focused on over-criminalization and sentencing reform, any proposed legislation to reform the federal government's awful civil asset forfeiture laws would go through the House Judiciary Committee. The FAIR Act, sponsored by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) in the House and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in the Senate, would restore the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" in the justice system by putting the burden of proof on the federal government in civil asset forfeiture cases and raise the standard of proof prosecutors need to forfeit property.
These two vital reforms would offer protections for innocent owners whose property or cash has been wrongfully taken by overzealous law enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service, or other federal agencies. Importantly, the FAIR Act would also direct proceeds from forfeitures to the Treasury Department general fund, eliminating the perverse profit motive often behind seizures of innocent people's property.
The House version of the FAIR Act, H.R. 540, boasts nearly 50 cosponsors (29 Republicans and 20 Democrats) and is currently awaiting action in four House committees with jurisdiction, including the Judiciary Committee.
Smarter Sentencing Act: Introduced by Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) in the House and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) in the Senate, the Smarter Sentencing Act would not eliminate federal mandatory minimum sentences, but reduce them for nonviolent, low-level offenders. The bill would expand the "safety valve" exception to these sentences for eligible offenders and requires the Attorney General and federal agencies to submit reports that identifies all federal criminal offenses required by law or regulations.
Record Expungement Designed to Enhance Employment (REDEEM) Act: The REDEEM Act, sponsored by Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Penn.) in the House and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in the upper chamber, would allow nonviolent offenders, including juvenile offenders, to petition courts to seal or expunge their records, provided they do not reoffend. By ending the stigma that attaches to a criminal record, the REDEEM Act would allow reformed offenders to seek employment and education opportunities.
Much like the Smarter Sentencing Act, the REDEEM Act is a fiscally conservative piece of legislation. The bill is designed to break the endless cycle of crime and poverty before it starts. According to Pew Charitable Trusts, states could save $470 million each year by reducing repeat offender rates by 10 percent. The House version of the REDEEM Act has been referred to House Judiciary Committee, among others, where it awaits action.
These are just three of the justice reform bills currently in the lower chamber. Others may have good merits, and the committee should review them carefully. But the FAIR Act, Smarter Sentencing Act, and REDEEM Act promote conservative principles that deserve to have the full attention of the committee as this initiative unfolds.
The California House Public Safety Committee is expected to hold a hearing on June 30 to debate proposed civil asset forfeiture reforms that offer substantive protections for innocent property owners.
With members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, under the watchful eye of Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), working on long overdue sentencing reforms, a group of 130 former federal prosecutors, judges, and other law enforcement officials sent a letter urging action on the Smarter Sentencing Act.
In May, Gov. Rick Snyder rolled out his priorities to create a smart justice system in Michigan by proposing a series of reforms that have been successful in other states. Georgia and Texas, for instance, have seen significant savings through innovative justice reforms while crime and repeat offender rates dropped.
Using civil asset forfeiture, the government often seizes the property of completely innocent individuals. However, despite their innocence, these individuals often settle with the government and forfeit a portion of their property to government authorities. Why do they do this?
During a recent a recent discussion with Oklahoma journalists, Gov. Mary Fallin indicated that reforms were necessary to the Sooner State's awful civil asset forfeiture laws. How far she is willing to go remains to be seen.
Mark Weller and his court-appointed attorney, Brad Hansen, pleaded for leniency from U.S. District Court Judge Mark Bennett, who was at the center of a Washington Post story over the weekend on federal sentencing laws. Unfortunately, even though Weller had a story and family history that urged sentencing restraint, Judge Bennett's sentence was mandated by big government in Washington.
Civil asset forfeiture is a unique area of law in which the government charges specific property of being guilty of wrongdoing, rather than a person. Perhaps because the property is accused of wrongdoing, and not the person, governments often place lower standards of proof needed to forfeit the property. The procedures used by the federal government and many state governments creates grave Fourth and Fifth Amendment concerns.
Pennsylvania’s long-awaited, all-encompassing civil asset forfeiture reform bill was introduced in the Senate in bipartisan fashion. Just before the bill was introduced, the Commonwealth's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union released a shocking study detailing the abuse of civil asset forfeiture by overzealous law enforcement and prosecutors in Philadelphia.
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