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David Keene op-ed in Salem Statesman-Journal

May 13, 2013 By Brendan Steinhauser

In an op-ed published in today’s Statesman Journal,  Right on Crime signatory and NRA president David Keene urges conservatives to examine whether taxpayers are getting the most from the money spent on public safety. He highlights state data that shows Oregon’s criminal justice system is not passing this cost-benefit test.

While Oregon has been a leader in effective corrections and sentencing policies, the state has started to veer off course over the last decade, with M11 and M57 driving a lot of the costly growth. State data shows the growing prison population will cost taxpayers $600 million in new spending over the coming decade.

Mr. Keene, a long-time opponent of mandatory minimums, calls on Oregon policymakers to turn the conservative lens of fiscal accountability and limited government on the state’s criminal justice system and support reforms that will spend public safety dollars more wisely.

Right on Crime works in many states to elevate the conservative voice for criminal justice reform, including Georgia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Texas.

Filed Under: Kentucky, Oregon, Pennsylvania, ROC Blog, South Dakota, Texas

Vikrant Reddy interviewed by Matt Lewis of The Daily Caller

April 11, 2013 By Brendan Steinhauser

Vikrant Reddy joined The Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis today to talk about conservative ideas for criminal justice reform. They spoke about Senator Rand Paul’s speech to Howard University yesterday, as well as our broader Right on Crime issue set.  LISTEN NOW!

Also, here is a blog post up at the DC where Lewis describes the interview and podcast.

Filed Under: Audio, Kentucky, Prisons, ROC Blog, Victims Tagged With: Daily Caller, Matt Lewis, Rand Paul

Senator Rand Paul talks criminal justice at Howard University

April 10, 2013 By Brendan Steinhauser

Read the full text of Senator Rand Paul’s speech at Howard University today. He focused on how conservative values, including those that deal with criminal justice reform, can better people’s lives and limit government power.

Here is an excerpt from the speech today.

Our federal mandatory minimum sentences are simply heavy handed and arbitrary. They can affect anyone at any time, though they disproportionately affect those without the means to fight them.

We should stand and loudly proclaim enough is enough. We should not have laws that ruin the lives of young men and women who have committed no violence.

That’s why I have introduced a bill to repeal federal mandatory minimum sentences. We should not have drug laws or a court system that disproportionately punishes the black community.

Filed Under: Adult Probation, Juvenile Justice, Kentucky, Law Enforcement, Overcriminalization, Parole and Re-Entry, Prisons, ROC Blog, Substance Abuse Tagged With: Rand Paul, republican

Senator Rand Paul leading the way on Criminal Justice Reform

April 5, 2013 By Brendan Steinhauser

We were pleased to read this article in The Washington Times by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. The good senator is supporting Right on Crime principles of fighting crime, prioritizing victims and saving taxpayer dollars. He is trying to move legislation that would reform the federal mandatory minimum laws currently on the books.

Senator Paul knows that there is a growing movement of conservatives who are trying to do smart criminal justice reform, based on our time-honored principles of limited government and personal responsibility — and he is helping to lead this reform effort with his steady drumbeat of articles, speeches and new media outreach. It’s both good policy and good politics, and we hope that other senators will follow suit. Below is an excerpt from the article.

Judges will tell you that current federal sentencing laws — known as mandatory minimums — don’t actually do anything to keep us safer. In fact, judges will tell you that mandatory minimums do much harm to taxpayers and to individuals, who may have their lives ruined for a simple mistake or minor lapse of judgment.

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Ignoring these rights comes with several tangible costs. In the last 30 years, the number of federal inmates has increased from 25,000 to nearly 219,000. That is nearly a 10-fold increase in federal prisoners, each of whom cost the taxpayers $29,027 a year to incarcerate. The federal prison budget has doubled in 10 years to more than $6 billion

Filed Under: Kentucky, Overcriminalization, Prisons, ROC Blog Tagged With: Rand Paul

The Conservative Case Against More Prisons

March 18, 2013 By Brendan Steinhauser

Our policy experts Vikrant Reddy and Marc Levin wrote an excellent piece recently for The American Conservative magazine. It’s entitled, “The Conservative Case Against More Prisons” and appeared in the latest issue of the magazine.

Here is an excerpt:

There are other ways to hold offenders—particularly nonviolent ones—accountable. These alternatives when properly implemented can lead to greater public safety and increase the likelihood that victims of crime will receive restitution. The alternatives are also less costly. Prisons are expensive (in some states, the cost of incarcerating an inmate for one year approaches $60,000), and just as policymakers should scrutinize government expenditures on social programs and demand accountability, they should do the same when it comes to prison spending. None of this means making excuses for criminal behavior; it simply means “thinking outside the cell” when it comes to punishment and accountability.

Filed Under: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon, Prisons, ROC Blog, Vermont

Discussing Juvenile Justice with “Pure Politics” in Kentucky

December 16, 2012 By Vikrant P. Reddy

Last month, Right On Crime’s Jeanette Moll traveled to Kentucky to present research on juvenile justice to stakeholders involved in reforming several aspects of the state juvenile system — including how it handles status offenders. A task force in Kentucky is studying the issue, and it is looking for lessons from Texas’s experience. While in Louisville, Moll sat down with Ryan Alessi of Pure Politics to discuss cost-effective juvenile justice:

Filed Under: Audio and Video, Juvenile Justice, Kentucky, Priority Issues, ROC Blog, State Initiatives, Uncategorized, Video

Justice System Reinvestment Pays Additional Dividends

November 28, 2012 By Jeanette Moll

When criminal justice systems reduce prison populations and reinvest a portion of the savings in evidence-based methods of reducing crime, not only are taxpayer dollars saved, but more efficient and effective programs can be fiscally prioritized.

For example, Kentucky is using a portion of the savings from reduced prison populations to fund drug treatment beds that aim to get more Kentucky offenders off drugs—for good. Recent data showed Kentucky policymakers that drug treatment can cut recidivism among otherwise addicted inmates by one-third, and the Kentucky Legislature jumped at the chance to save money and reduce crime in their state.

In Hawaii, crime victims will receive additional attention as some of the justice reinvestment savings are used to fund victim counselors and their support staff. This will permit their victims’ outreach efforts to expand from violent crime victims to violent and property crime victims, and for longer periods of time. Putting the focus on victims in this way not only makes the criminal justice system more responsive to community needs, but also what is necessary to make the harmed party whole after the criminal act.

Filed Under: Kentucky, Priority Issues, ROC Blog, State Initiatives, Substance Abuse

Kentucky Continues New Focus on Juvenile Justice Reform

February 20, 2012 By Jeanette Moll

Right on Crime recently highlighted a Kentucky judge’s pilot program to better handle status offenders. Now the legislature, too, is joining the effort.

With a unanimous vote, the House Judiciary Committee in Kentucky recently approved establishing a task force, the “Unified Juvenile Code Task Force” to study the issues plaguing Kentucky’s juvenile justice system.

This comes after heightened public attention to the system following instances of delinquency charges filed against very young children—as young as five—as well as high rates of detention for status offenders.

If approved, the task force would study the system and recommend legislation for consideration in 2013.

Juvenile justice reforms in other states have produced savings of millions of dollars and more effective treatment for juvenile delinquents. Kentucky’s focus on this issue could bring the state’s system in line with those best practices and produce better outcomes for both the Bluegrass State’s taxpayers and juveniles.

Filed Under: Juvenile Justice, Kentucky, Priority Issues, ROC Blog, State Initiatives

Kentucky Begins to Focus on Status Offenders

February 15, 2012 By Jeanette Moll

Late last year, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported that Kentucky locks up status offenders at one of the highest rates in the nation.

Status offenses are those that are only a crime as a result of the age of the offender—like running away from home, truancy, and possession of alcohol.

Given the high costs of juvenile incapacitation—and the dismal rates of effectiveness—juvenile justice leaders in Kentucky are understandably eager to lose this dubious distinction.

One leader, District Judge Karen Thomas, is looking to develop a new way to handle status offenders. She has proposed addressing the misbehavior through a case management system, incorporating stakeholders from sectors beyond the justice system and applying services to address the underlying issues that precipitated the status offense.

Importantly, Judge Thomas is focusing on the role of the family. Status offenses often represent a breakdown in the traditional parent-child relationship, and therefore, effective responses usually involve parents and families as an integral part of the process.

Judge Thomas’s proposal will likely be piloted in one county in Kentucky. If it is successful, it could spread across the state.

Filed Under: Juvenile Justice, Kentucky, Priority Issues, ROC Blog, State Initiatives

Kentucky Passes Legislation to Address Out-of-Control Corrections Costs

April 29, 2011 By Joseph A. Adams

On March 3, 2011, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear signed into law HB 463—a criminal justice reform bill designed to decrease the state’s prison population, reduce incarceration costs, reduce crime and increase public safety. The Public Safety and Offender Accountability Act was a strong bipartisan effort, passing the Senate unanimously and the House by a vote of 96 to 1. According to the Pew Center for the States, the Act “puts Kentucky at the forefront of states advancing research-driven criminal justice policies designed to protect public safety, hold offenders accountable and control corrections costs.”

Kentucky’s corrections budget increased from $30 million in 1980 to nearly $470 million in 2010, and its prison population rose along with it—growing nearly 80 percent between 1997 and 2009. That year, Kentucky had the highest incarceration rate in the nation. But despite the dramatic increase in costs, Kentucky’s crime rate remained about the same. These bipartisan reforms look to change that.

The Act’s many reforms are estimated to result in cost-savings of $422 million over 10 years to the Kentucky taxpayer, and will seek to stop the revolving door for lower-risk, non-violent offenders. By doing so, this should open up more prison space for violent and career criminals. And, similar to the recent bipartisan Arkansas reform act, the legislature agreed that half of the savings will be reinvested in efforts to reduce recidivism, including strengthening probation and parole and programs for substance abusing offenders.

As Governor Beshear said in regards to the Act, “it enables [Kentucky] to continue to be tough on crime but at the same time to be smarter about it.”

Filed Under: Kentucky, ROC Blog
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