A new report highlights 2019’s new trends in criminal justice policies

January 26, 2020 GlenAnderson Criminal Justice (Also see Death Penalty), Democracy, Electoral Reforms, Voting Rights (Also see Political Parties and Elections), Examples of Parallax Views, Governmental Abuses, Human Rights, Judicial and Constitutional, Organizing & Activism (Also see Nonviolence, Outreach), Our Current Political Crisis (in addition to Trump and Trumpism), Race, Young People 0

The Sentencing Project is a TRULY EXCELLENT non-profit organization that monitors and analyzes information about criminal justice sentencing — and pushes effectively for progressive reforms.  I donate financial support to them and receive regular news from them.  I hope you will connect too.  See www.sentencingproject.org

In 2019 they — and formerly incarcerated activists, lawmakers, and advocates — worked to challenge mass incarceration. They made good progress in 2019, as they have in recent years.  See their new 4-page report, “Top Trends in State Criminal Justice Reform.” https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Top-Trends-in-State-Criminal-Justice-Reform-2019.pdf?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=8251ac2a-bedb-41ec-a088-cc1e529d01e8

It highlights key changes in criminal justice policy achieved in 2019, including these examples:

Sentencing:  California repealed a one-year sentence enhancement for each prior prison or county jail felony term, impacting 10,000 people.

Felony Disenfranchisement:  Nevada and New Jersey expanded voting rights to people on felony probation or parole, impacting 77,000 and 83,000 people, respectively.

Juvenile Justice:  Michigan raised the age at which young defendants are automatically charged as adults from 17 to 18.

Addressing Racial Disparity:  Florida adopted a Senate rule for racial impact statements to assess potential disparities of key criminal justice bills prior to implementation.

 

 

 

About GlenAnderson 1437 Articles
Since the late 1960s Glen Anderson has devoted his life to working as a volunteer for peace, nonviolence, social justice, and progressive political issues. He has worked through many existing organizations and started several. Over the years he has worked especially for such wide-ranging goals as making peace with Vietnam, eliminating nuclear weapons, converting from a military economy to a peacetime economy, abolishing the death penalty, promoting nonviolence at all levels throughout society, and helping people organize and strategize for grassroots movements to solve many kinds of problems. He writes, speaks, and conducts training workshops on a wide variety of topics. Since 1987 he has produced and hosted a one-hour cable TV interview program on many kinds of issues. Since 2017 he has blogged at https://parallaxperspectives.org He lives in Lacey near Olympia WA. You can reach him at (360) 491-9093 glen@parallaxperspectives.org