On November 1, the Heritage Foundation and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers partnered to host a training for Capitol Hill staffers titled “Have You Committed a Felony Today?” The training was presented by criminal defense attorneys Ross Garber and Timothy O’Toole.
Testimony Before Select Committee of the California Assembly
December 5, 2011 By
On November 17, I testified before the California Assembly’s Select Committee on Delinquency Prevention and Youth Development. The full two-hour hearing can be viewed here. (My testimony ends at the 51 minute mark.)
The Federalist Society’s Panel Discussion on School Bullying Initiatives
December 5, 2011 By
In recent years, school bullying initiatives have become a particularly controversial area of juvenile law. On November 10, 2011, at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention in Washington, DC, five prominent scholars spoke about the issue in a provocative panel discussion moderated by Stuart Taylor, Jr. of National Journal:
Hans Bader, Senior Attorney and Counsel for Special Projects, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Todd Gaziano, Commissioner, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and Senior Fellow in Legal Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Fatima Goss Graves, Vice President for Education and Employment, National Women’s Law Center
Eugene Volokh, Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
William R. Yeomans, Fellow in Law and Government, American University Washington College of Law
Smart-On-Crime Legislatures
May 5, 2011 By
This panel from the American Legislative Exchange Council’s 2010 States and Nation Policy Summit features four national experts on overcriminalization: U.S. Congressman Louie Gohmert, James Dunlop of Jones Day, Timothy O’Toole of Miller Chevalier, and Shana-Tara Regon of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The panel is moderated by Texas Representative Jerry Madden.
Smart-on-Crime Legislatures: Fighting Overcriminalization and Restoring the Proper Federal-State Equilibrium on Criminal Law and from American Legislative Exchange Co on Vimeo.
Cutting Crime and Budgets: The National Movement
May 5, 2011 By
This panel discussion from the American Legislative Exchange Council’s 2010 States and Nation Policy Summit features three national experts on criminal justice reform: Adam Gelb of the Pew Center on the States, Pat Nolan of Prison Fellowship, and Marc Levin of Right on Crime.
Cutting Crime and Budgets: The National Movement from American Legislative Exchange Co on Vimeo.
Asset Forfeiture Abuse in Georgia
April 7, 2011 By
A new study from the Institute for Justice—Forfeiting Accountability—has found that local Georgia law enforcement agencies are turning civil forfeiture proceeds into slush funds, hidden from public view. While civil forfeiture laws allow law enforcement to seize property upon the suspicion that it has been used in a criminal activity, Georgia law requires reports to be issued itemizing the property and detailing how it has been used. Unfortunately, only 2 of the 20 law enforcement agencies followed in the study have actually been issuing the required reports. The following video details what the Institute for Justice is doing to protect private property rights in light of Georgia’s civil forfeiture practices.
Pat Nolan’s Comments on Prison Reform at CPAC 2011
February 22, 2011 By
Pat Nolan of Prison Fellowship received an award at CPAC 2011 to recognize his efforts on behalf of conservative criminal justice reform. After the award presentation and a panel discussion featuring Nolan, U.S. Congressman Ted Poe, American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene, and Right On Crime’s Marc Levin, Nolan made the following comments:
Talking about RoC with Duane Lester, All-American Blogger
February 21, 2011 By
Last week, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), I was interviewed by Duane Lester, the All-American Blogger. Lester spent nearly a decade working with adjudicated youth in the state of Missouri, so he understands conservative criminal justice reform — particularly juvenile justice and substance abuse issues — in a way that few members of the media can match. The conversation that we have about drug courts at 5:02 is particularly worth watching.
Discussing Right On Crime with From the Right Radio
February 16, 2011 By
In this interview on From the Right Radio, Joshua Gillespie and Ashley Sewell ask several in-depth questions about the Right On Crime campaign. Near the end of the interview, Gillespie asks about the history of crime as a hot-button political issue, and we have a conversation about the skyrocketing crime rates of the 1970s and 1980s that some believe resulted from progressive policy ideas which deemphasized incarceration. We then discuss the fact that by responding to the crime wave with a renewed emphasis on incarceration – including the incarceration of non-violent offenders – conservatives may have pushed the pendulum too far in the other direction. The proper balance is a criminal justice system that prioritizes prison space for violent felons and uses alternative sanctions for non-violent offenders.
A Rule of Law Problem
February 15, 2011 By
At CPAC, Marc Levin was interviewed by James Poulos for PJTV. Levin and Poulos had a wide-ranging conversation in which Poulos expressed his view that the problems in the corrections system are largely a “rule of law” problem. Punishment should be swift, certain, and proportional to the level of the underlying offense, but when punishments become disproportionate (e.g., prison sentences for shoplifting or writing hot checks), and society ignores the disproportionate punishments, then the rule of law is also being disregarded. Watch the full interview here.