Some criminal justice experts say major reforms have been adopted in America’s criminal justice system, but others say changes have been modest, according to The Crime Report.
The report says it asked some key experts to assess the progress so far, and reactions were decidedly mixed.
“One preliminary conclusion: ‘tweaking’ certain policies doesn’t work when it comes to meaningfully solving America’s mass incarceration problem. But another — more optimistic assessment — is that states have come a long way in changing a massive system that took decades to build,” The Crime Report said.
The report said lawmakers acknowledged that these strategies were both costly to taxpayers and ineffective in reducing crime despite two decades of tough-on-crime policies.
This realization prompted legislatures in various states to repeal harsh mandatory minimum drug sentences, to create alternatives to incarceration, and to reduce penalties on repeat offenders.
“We are really starting to see a culture shift in which policymakers are becoming eager to base decisions on data and evidence rather than emotion or ideology,” said Adam Gelb, director of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety Performance Project. “There’s been a tremendous amount of progress, but there’s still a long way to go.”
“Most states have not made any progress,” said James Austin of the JFA Institute. “Those that are making some progress, it’s been pretty miniscule.”
Researchers claimed minor changes to sentencing and parole policies by states have not significantly resolved the mass incarceration problem, the report stated.
“What’s being done is these little tiny tweaking around the edges and then making big projections,” said Michael Tonry, director of the Institute on Crime and Public Policy at the University of Minnesota.
“Criminal court cases have dropped by 16 percent in the last decade, but the number of people who are incarcerated is still rising,” said Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Ky. “If we don’t do anything to solve that problem, nothing is going to change.”
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that the U.S. has more than 1.3 million prisoners. The report noted that in the last decade, the number of prisoners showed no significant decrease.
The Sentencing Project analysis showed states’ progress in handling the growing prison population has been “relatively modest,” The Report revealed.
In recent years California has focused its reform efforts on repeat, elderly and youth offenders.
Some San Quentin prisoners observed that one category of offender has been overlooked.
“If reform efforts are being done categorically, it just makes sense that first-time offenders should be included as well,” inmate Son Nguyen said in an interview.

A federal judge called for scrutiny of the effects of felony convictions, after he sentenced a woman in a felony drug case to probation rather than prison, reported The New York Times.
Being a convicted felon, the collateral consequences were enough, Brooklyn, N.Y., Federal District Court Judge Frederic Block said. The consequences have “no useful function other than to further punish criminal defendants after they have completed their court-imposed sentences.”
Arrested for 600 grams of cocaine at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Chevelle Nesbeth claimed she was unaware that the suitcase given to her by friends contained cocaine. Unpersuaded, the jury convicted Nesbeth of importing and possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, The Times revealed.
The judge’s opinion is groundbreaking and “it’s going to generate debate on a critical issue in the criminal justice system—the ability of people convicted of crimes to get on with their lives,” said Gabriel J. Chin, a law professor at the University of California at Davis.
Nesbeth was sentenced to one year probation, six months of home confinement, and 100 hours of community services, The Times stated.
Convicted felons faced about 50,000 state and federal statutes and regulations, including being ineligible for public benefits, wrote Judge Block, in his 42-page sentencing opinion.
The collateral consequences are “particularly disruptive to an ex-convict’s effort at rehabilitation and reintegration into society,” and could result in many ex-convicts “becoming recidivists and restarting the criminal cycle,” explained Judge Block.
“However laudable it is for the judge to highlight this problem, his decision can’t solve it,” said former federal prosecutor Daniel C. Richman, who teaches criminal law at Columbia.
Yet, “It’s refreshing, really, to see a judge considering the ramifications that a lot of people don’t even know about, much less consider, when they think about a person being sentenced,” said Amanda L. David, a federal public defender, who represented Nesbeth.
On the other hand, the United States attorney’s office memo to the judge stated that the collateral consequences of Nesbeth’s convictions were necessary because of her “serious criminal conduct.” Moreover, the restrictions were “meant to promote public safety, by limiting an individual’s access to certain jobs or sensitive areas,” and “to ensure that government resources are being spent on those who obey the law,” The Times highlighted.
Judge Block, who served more than two decades on the federal bench, pointed out that it is for Congress and state legislatures “to determine whether the plethora of post-sentence punishments imposed upon felons is truly warranted, and to take a hard look at whether they do the country more harm than good.” Meanwhile, Judge Block also called other judges to consider the collateral consequences of a defendant at sentencing, reported The Times.

 
More resources should be allocated to help crime victims of color and their communities, Aswad Thomas wrote in the Sacramento Bee.
“It’s nearly impossible to focus on healing and safety while trying to pay medical bills, handle inquiries from law enforcement and return to work,” he said. “Services intended to help survivors are unknown or hard to find.”
Californians for Safety and Justice found that 1 in 5 Californians are victims of crime and the rate is higher among young people of color. What’s more, services to help crime victims were inaccessible to most of these young people, Thomas pointed out.
Thomas was offered the chance to play professional basketball until he suffered injuries from a robbery. He was shot twice in the back. While in recovery, he replaced his despair and resentment with a commitment to stop violence in communities of color, he wrote.
“We have to change the unfair stereotype that when youth of color are victims of crime, we must have been involved,” Thomas noted.
Realizing that community groups that have credibility with people in the community are under-funded, he works to organize young men to help their community. Thomas explained, “I began working with residents to call for peace and real solutions focused on preventing gun violence and healing our communities.”
The federal Victims of Crime Act has increased funding now — from $1.6 billion to nearly $2.4 billion. A portion of that should go to groups that are best equipped to help the under-served communities, Thomas wrote.
“If this money only goes to the same places, we should not expect different results,” Thomas insisted. “That’s why I’m working with California survivors to ensure that a portion of the state’s $232 million goes to groups best positioned to serve our most vulnerable communities.”
https://sanquentinnews.com/optionb-org-support-group-overcoming-effects-incarceration/

The United States has become increasingly punitive, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts 2016 study.
“As measured by the punishment rate, the U.S. became 165 percent more punitive from 1983 to 2013,” reported the Pew study, “The Punishment Rate.”
The increase in imprisonment over a 30-year period was the result of an increase in criminal penalties, measures that sent more offenders to prison with lengthier sentences, the study indicated.
The National Research Council’s 2014 report concluded that “statutes mandating lengthy prison sentences cannot be justified on the basis of their effectiveness in preventing crime,” the study cited.
“Many experts also argue that the increase in imprisonment has reached a point of diminishing or even negative public safety returns,” the study pointed out. “At the same time, research shows that policy choices – not crime rates – drive increased imprisonment.”
The punishment rate accounts for the state’s prison population by factoring the imprisonment and crime rates to assess the relationship between crime and punishment. The punishment rate is calculated by the number of inmates sentenced to a year or more for felony offenses per 100,000 residents of a jurisdiction, the study explained.
“Analysis of punishment rates over time across jurisdictions make clear that the nation has become more punitive,” the study concluded.

Former prisoners have a better chance of finding rental housing in Texas, thanks to a new state law.
The new law exempts landlords from civil liability for renting to people with criminal records, the Austin Chronicle reported in January.
Even with the help of HB 1510, formerly incarcerated people find it difficult to attain housing because of housing shortages. Landlords can still deny people with criminal histories without violating the Fair Housing Act according to the newspaper.
Testifying for the bill, Douglas Smith of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition said he had a criminal record and recounted a conversation he had with a landlord:
“I asked if they ever made exceptions. He said, ‘No! If we made an exception for you, a White person, and not someone else, then we’d be violating the Fair Housing Act.’ I was shocked.”
Smith paroled in 2014 and reported he had been living in his parents’ garage apartment.
City Councilman Greg Casar said increasing more Accessory Dwelling Units would improve affordable housing opportunities for everyone.
“We’re in a landlord’s market,” said Casar. “If we don’t have more than enough housing, landlords are going to have that advantage. It’s really important for us to have more than enough housing for our population so that landlords have to compete for tenants.”
Isa Arizola said she had rented an Accessory Dwelling Unit with her family without incident until the new landlord asked her to file a new application in which Arizola’s criminal record was revealed. At that point, she and her family were asked by the landlord to move out .
“My kids are suffering the consequence of what I did several years later,” Arizola said.