For far too long, politicians have passed bad laws in an effort to appear "tough on crime." But these laws have come with a heavy toll. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and our prison system is struggling to keep up. These policies have also have torn families apart.
It's fiscally and morally imperative to advance meaningful and responsible justice reforms that will ease burdens on taxpayers and give nonviolent offenders the opportunity to become productive citizens.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In response to the Pennsylvania House Judiciary committee’s passage today of multiple bills dealing with criminal justice reform, including expungement, occupational licensing, and probation reform, Jason Pye, FreedomWorks Vice President of Legislative Affairs, commented:
The momentous criminal justice bill passed last year, the First Step Act, is already bearing fruit. Thousands of nonviolent offenders tried under federal laws and sentenced to obscenely long sentences with no chance of parole are closer to breathing free air again. Earlier this year, more than 2,200 federal prison inmates were released and many more have had their sentences significantly reduced.
In July 2015, FreedomWorks Foundation published an issue brief, From High Seas to Highway Robbery: How Civil Asset Forfeiture Became One of the Worst Forms of Government Overreach, which documented the history of civil asset forfeiture and how it came to be used so frequently. In the more than four years since the publication of this issue brief, several states have passed reforms to protect innocent individuals from civil asset forfeiture. There has also been a case at the Supreme Court that touches on the issue.
President Trump launched an initiative called Black Voices for Trump with a speech in Atlanta Friday to recruit and engage the black community. I am proud to be one of the founding members of the group.
The First Step Act has seen success since its passage in December 2018, but much more work remains to be be done at the federal level on criminal justice reform. Several bipartisan bills have been introduced to bring second chances to the formerly incarcerated, including the Fair Chance Act, S. 387 and H.R. 1076; the Clean Slate Act, H.R. 2348; and legislation to expand apprenticeships, H.R. 4369.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently released its annual crime statistics report. There hasn’t been much media coverage of the report, but it does show the violent crime rate in 2018 was at its second-lowest point since this particular crime metric peaked in 1991. Generally, crime rates fell across the board compared to 2017.
On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and senators and ask them to cosponsor the Eliminating Discrimination and Creating Corridors to Expand Student Success (ED ACCESS) Act, H.R. 4518 and S. 2553. Introduced by Reps. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) and Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the ED ACCESS Act would strike the language in current law that prohibits any person with a drug felony conviction from being eligible for the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC).
On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to cosponsor the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act, S. 2566. Introduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and cosponsored by Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act would prohibit the practice of federal judges increasing sentences for charges for which the defendant has been acquitted.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In response to the introduction of the bipartisan, bicameral ED ACCESS Act by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Reps. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) and Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Jason Pye, FreedomWorks Vice President of Legislative Affairs, commented:
In the wake of the federal prison and sentencing reform legislation, the First Step Act, states that have not yet embarked on criminal justice reform as well as states whose reforms served as models for the federal legislation have moved in their 2019 legislative sessions to contribute to the momentum behind the shift toward smart-on-crime policies.
The justice system is in dire need of reforms that will ease burdens on taxpayers and give nonviolent offenders the opportunity to become productive citizens.
