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.
“The way this works varies. In some states, formerly incarcerated people are sent bills, and in others they are charged fines (sometimes called legal financial obligations, or LFOs). Some states collect the cost of incarcerating someone through windfall statutes, grabbing any inheritances, lottery winnings or proceeds from litigation. “
Huffington Post
September 16, 2018
Read More“About 8 million Californians, or 1 in 5 people throughout the state, have such records — and they’re subject to thousands of restrictions, large and small, imposed on freed people with a criminal history, the report says.“
San Francisco Chronicle
September 13, 2018
Read More“There's a cascade of dire problems that can occur even if you're only in jail for one day, says attorney Robin Steinberg. The CEO of The Bail Project -- a national organization that pays bail for tens of thousands of low-income Americans at risk of pretrial detention -- gives her Brief But Spectacular take on disrupting the money bail system and turning the tide on U.S. mass incarceration.“
PBS News Hour
September 13, 2018
Read More“States set their own eligibility rules. Most deny reimbursement to victims who refuse to cooperate with law enforcement or who were committing a crime that contributed to their injury or death. States with bans—which also include Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Rhode Island and North Carolina—go one step further, scouring the victim’s past.“
The Marshall Project
September 13, 2018
Read More“Obtaining employment after release is a primary driver in lowering incidences of future criminal activity, which translates to lower crime in our communities. Criminal justice reforms have allowed Louisiana to move away from the “lock em’ up and throw away the key” mindset to an evidence-based, data-driven rehabilitative model that ensures public safety, saves taxpayer dollars and restores lives for individuals and families impacted by the criminal justice system.“
Right on Crime
September 12, 2018
Read More“Earlier in the summer, the House passed a version of the farm bill that contains a provision that would cut off benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (better known as SNAP or food stamps) for those who have completed sentences for certain violent crimes — even though they’ve served their time in prison. Current law, which expires this month, denies SNAP benefits only to those found guilty of a violent crime who violate their parole or the terms of their release.“
Washington Post
September 10, 2018
Read More“We believe that there is a need for this kind of financial education within the penal system, and that this pilot program can be scaled to meet the needs of states, counties and municipalities across the country. We also believe this program is evidence that government can innovate and collaborate for the benefit of all citizens. After all, thousands of men and women are returning to their communities each year after being incarcerated, and we want to them to become independent and successful.“
Governing Institute
September 6, 2018
Read More"To put the ex-prisoner unemployment rate in context, it is 'higher than the total U.S. unemployment rate during any historical period, including the Great Depression' the PPI report explains. And it’s not a matter of being voluntarily unemployed or laziness, as critics often claim of those who lack a job."
Prison Legal News
September 4, 2018
Read More"In most places around the country, bail hearings are open to the public. The idea is that if the government is going to try to imprison you, the news media and your family and friends should be able to see what goes on and make sure it’s done fairly. Not so in Dallas County, Texas, where people accused of crimes have their bail set behind closed doors — without any family, lawyers, social workers or journalists present."
The Marshall Project
September 4, 2018
Read More"Cities can’t prosecute people for sleeping on the streets if they have nowhere else to go because it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, which is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court said Tuesday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with six homeless people from Boise, who sued the city in 2009 over a local ordinance that banned sleeping in public spaces. The ruling could affect several other cities across the U.S. West that have similar laws."
Idaho Statesman
September 4, 2018
Read More"The videos, part of a civil rights lawsuit alleging an unconstitutional cash bail system, show hearings that are often perfunctory and routinely last fewer than 15 seconds for each person. In the hearings, magistrates rarely lower the bond amount or give out personal recognizance bonds, known as personal or PR bonds, which are supposed to be options for people too poor to make bail and, in lieu of a cash payment up front, require pretrial monitoring."
Texas Observer
September 3, 2018
Read More"He also signed Kendra’s Law. Officially known by the euphemism Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), the law establishes a stringent outpatient regimen for those who are mentally ill and have a history of resisting therapy and a record of violent behavior. A treatment plan is imposed by court order and monitored by a case manager or “Assertive Community Team.” A patient who refuses to follow the program can be committed to a hospital for up to 72 hours. More than 16,000 New Yorkers have passed through AOT since the law took effect, and some 3,000 New Yorkers are currently living under AOT court orders."
The Marshall Project
September 3, 2018
Read More"Instead of warehousing America’s young people – who could provide the labor construction, manufacturing, and trucking firms need – policymakers should try to reduce prison populations. They should create programs that keep offenders from landing back in prison and they should keep more nonviolent offenders from ever ending up behind bars in the first place."
The Hill
September 1, 2018
Read More"America’s cash bail system forces cash-strapped people to choose between remaining incarcerated – and possibly losing their job, housing, or custody of their children – or entering an agreement with shady private lenders to pay for their freedom before their court date. Private lender agreements often require people to pay bail companies steep fees and can trigger high interest rates when a payment is late, pushing people already in financial distress further into debt."
The Guardian
August 30, 2018
Read More"Under the old system, defendants were given a bail amount to post, and those who could afford it could be released. Judges could order that defendants be held without bail if they represented a public threat or a flight risk. The new system includes a presumption against release for people accused of violent felonies and for those who score high on a risk assessment tool."
The Marshall Project
August 30, 2018
Read More"Rather than reduce the number of innocent people sitting in jail cells, the new system has the potential to increase it, while entrenching racial disparities and hiding them behind the rhetoric of science. Taken together, these factors could create a system that is worse than what California had, in the heartbreaking name of bail reform."
USA Today
August 30, 2018
Read More"In fact, nearly 70 percent of formerly incarcerated people nationally are re-arrested within three years of their release. Even more striking, nearly 60 percent of formerly incarcerated people who live on the street because of barriers to housing are rearrested within the very first year after being released. "
Vera Institute
August 30, 2018
Read More"The reasons to proactively include people with criminal records in a jobs guarantee program are both moral — everyone who wants to enter the workforce should be given a chance to work — and practical: Employing people with criminal records would also empower the rest of the workforce. "
Daily Intelligencer
August 30, 2018
Read More"The legislation virtually eliminates the payment of money as a condition of release. Under last-minute changes to the proposal, judges will have greater power to decide which people are a danger to the community and should be held without possibility of release in a practice known as 'preventive detention'."
LA Times
August 28, 2018
Read More"The only way for states and the federal government to atone and begin to undo the damage is to commute their sentences, reverse their convictions, and pay these men reparations."
The Marshall Project
August 26, 2018
Read More