Idaho — Social and Economic Issues — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Social and Economic Issues

Overcriminalization significantly undermines human flourishing and social well-being by harming the family, social networks, and social citizenship. Additionally, it prevents capable men and women from utilizing their creative capacities in the marketplace. This creates vast issues involving relations with family while incarcerated and reintegration into society after release. On the economic side, draconian cash bail systems undermine justice through basing someone's ability to attain pre-trial release upon their wealth, not their actual threat to society.

How Far Can Cities Go to Police the Homeless? Boise Tests the Limit

“The suit arose when a half-dozen homeless people claimed that local rules prohibiting camping on public property violated the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The plaintiffs prevailed at the appellate level last year, putting the city at the center of a national debate on how to tackle homelessness. Now Boise — after hiring a powerhouse legal team that includes Theodore B. Olson and Theane Evangelis of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher — has asked the Supreme Court to take the case, a decision that could come within days.“

New York Times

December 3, 2019

Criminalizing PovertyPhillip ReevesDecember 3, 2019New York Times, Boise, IdahoComment

Idaho legislators approve law requiring transparency for risk assessment tools

“The measure is the first in the country to specifically address transparency in the use of computerized risk assessment tools to predict the likelihood of a repeat offense before a judge sets bail or a prisoner is released on parole. It is also the first to set requirements for public access to the design and data used to build the tool’s predictions, requiring that records created during a risk assessment tool’s development, validation, and use to ‘be open to public inspection, auditing, and testing’.“

MuckRock

March 26, 2019

Bail ReformPhillip ReevesMarch 26, 2019MuckRock, IdahoComment

Social and Economic Issues

Galsworthy CJR Program

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