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Criminal Justice Reform in Pennsylvania

This article discusses criminal justice reform and awareness in the state of Pennsylvania, by discussing the advocacy demonstrated by Pennsylvania political leaders.

Background

Criminal Justice reform focuses on fixing errors made previously in the criminal justice system. Some goals of reform include decreasing the prison population and prison sentencing, and eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for minor drug offenders. About 2.2 million individuals today are imprisoned. With an increase of 1.9 million since 1972, making the U.S. have the largest prison population. Pennsylvania has about 51,000 people incarcerated in state prisons and 40,000 people held in jails. Between 1980 and 2009, Pennsylvania’s overall population increased by only six percent, but its prison population increased by 523 percent. Also, more than half of the inmates that were released were re-offended. There are numerous government officials that advocate for criminal justice reform, for instance Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey Jr., Governor Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Pennsylvania's American Civil Liberties Union and nationwide organizations such as Penal Reform International and the Innocence Project publicize incidents and legal disputes to bring awareness to the state and federal governments, as well as the public.

Advocacy in Pennsylvania

The U.S. has one of the highest racial disparities with young black men often being the target of incarceration before finishing high school. In 2010, Pennsylvania's law enforcement incarcerated 3,269 black individuals, compared to only 375 white individuals being incarcerated. Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey Jr. cosponsored the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act. This Act was created to reduce unnecessary mandatory minimums and change sentencing strategies to target violent offenders as opposed to overcrowding prisons with nonviolent offenders. It would also improve the rehabilitation process for current prisoners and help them successfully reenter society when released. It also gives eligible nonviolent juvenile offenders the opportunity seal or expunge their record.Senator Casey cosponsored the Fair Chance Act. This bill would Ban the Box, or prevent employer federal agencies from inquiring about job applicants’ criminal records without first offering them employment, under special conditions. Senator Casey signed a letter to the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) to finalize a rule to reduce the cost of inmate phone calls, which is usually over five dollars in the many states in the U.S.

In 2017, Governor Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro launched the Pennsylvania Reentry Council (PRC), which was essentially created to educate the public, the law enforcement and criminal justice, and policymakers on why it significant to support prisoner reentry efforts and how it is essential to reducing violence and crime. Governor Wolf partnered with the Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel (Pennsylvania official), legislators, and advocacy groups in a call-to-action for criminal justice reform to create a more organized system. Over the past two years, the Department of Corrections has reduced medical costs for inmates by $14.5 million, all while improving care, by controlling federal and state programs and partnerships, according to Governor Tom Wolf's Office of Transformation, Innovation, Management and Efficiency.

State Senator, Stewart Greenleaf in the past has supported "tough-on-crime" laws in the 1990s. Recently he has come to realize that these punishment laws do not play a big role in reducing crime rates or recidivism. According to Greenleaf, "Punishment without rehabilitation amounts a failed system."

American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that focuses on advocating and protecting citizen individual rights and personal freedoms. ALCU has attorneys, advocates and volunteers that work to preserve and promote civil liberties such as the right to privacy, freedom of speech, reproductive freedom, and equal treatment under the law. This organization also defends the rights of women, minorities, workers, students, immigrants, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, and those who have been the victim of unjustice or have had their constitutional rights violated.

The push for reform within juvenile justice highlights the statistic of Black and Latinx individuals, especially males, being criminalized as adolescents. Pennsylvania Senator Casey sponsored the Youth PROMISE Act. This act was created empower communities to fund and implement youth violence prevention and intervention strategies. Senator Casey sponsored the Prohibiting Detention of Youth Status Offenders Act. This bill would close the “valid court order” rule, which allows judges to incarcerate children for crimes that would not be illegal if they were adults, like truancy or breaking curfew. Senator Casey sponsored the Juvenile Fee Transparency Act. This bill would create a requirement for the justice system to report the assessment of fees received. There is not a vast amount of information on when fees are evaluated, and what the consequences of those fees are for the juveniles and the system. The Clean Slate Act, is a bill amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in the spread of criminal history record information. This bill was put in place to provide general regulations and order for limited access, and issue for a clean slate for convictions of misdemeanors and for charges that will not lead to convictions. The proposal would have those records sealed automatically if the individual remains crime free for a minimum of ten years. The Pennsylvania state Senate has already passed this bill, with its sponsor being Senator Scott Wagner.