DC- Capitol Hill Crime Summit Attracts Standing-Room Only Crowd

3-5-2009 Washington DC:

Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, moderated a panel of experts for “Smart on Crime Policies: Increase Public Safety, Reduce Costs, and Improve Lives,” a Capitol Hill Crime Summit held on March 3rd. Representative Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, convened the standing room only briefing, which also included panels on Prevention and Intervention, and Reentry and Collateral Consequences.

Mauer opened the “Sentencing and Alternatives” discussion with a question for United States District Court Judge Nancy Gertner, asking about the effect of mandatory minimum sentences imposed by Congress, in taking discretion away from judges.

“I don't know if anyone can understand what it's like to sentence a defendant to a sentence to which you know to be manifestly unfair,” said Gertner. “We've stopped making meaningful distinctions between offenders.”

Panelist and Co-Chair of the Sentencing Committee of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section and a member of the Constitution Project's Sentencing Committee, Jim Felman, stated that 94% of federal offenders are now sentenced to prison. Prior to the adoption of the federal sentencing guidelines, more than 40% were routinely sentenced to probation, a punishment which dramatically impacts the course of the rest of a person's life. “As a defense attorney, I can tell you that probation is punishment. It simply isn't necessary to lock everyone up.”

Mauer also asked panelists, including Kemba Smith, who was commuted from a crack cocaine sentence in 2000, why there is still a need to address mandatory minimum sentences, in light of the recent changes in sentencing guidelines.

“The changes have been helpful, but they are not enough,” said Judge Gertner. “It really is a marginal change. We've run this experiment through in incarceration, and it hasn't worked.”

Jim Felman responded: “We may not have known what it looked like when we did it, but we sure know what it looks like now.” He referred to a USSC report which stated that crack sentencing reform is the single most important thing that could be done to make the system more fair.

Smith told how she was sentenced to 24 ½ years as a first-time, non-violent offender in prison, after she was held accountable for the entire amount of drugs involved in a conspiracy investigation of her abusive, older boyfriend, whom she had met as a college freshman. Smith, who received executive clemency from President Bill Clinton, expressed concern for other single mothers in prison who are serving excessive sentences for very limited involvement in drug conspiracies.

“I've watched this debate for a long time,” said Smith, who advocates for reform through her Kemba Smith Foundation. “I watched you all debate this from federal prison when I was incarcerated from 1994 to 2000. I really am hoping that something different will happen this time, and that it will start with the American people.”

Two additional panels on “Prevention and Intervention” and “Reentry and Collateral Consequences” were held in an effort to promote issues that deserve attention from policymakers.

Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), who has worked to increase parity in mental health funding, referred to the number of people incarcerated with mental health conditions as “an outrage.”

“We have criminalized a public health emergency,” he said. “We have re-institutionalized people into the criminal justice system. In my state we spend more on adult incarceration than on adult education.”

Walter Beglau, District Attorney for Marion County, Oregon, referred to prevention and intervention strategies as “the most effective tools we have in crime reduction.”

Brian Bambarger, Coordinator of Policy Research and Outreach, Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development at Penn State University, discussed the importance of investing in prevention and intervention early in youth in an effort to protect the child, as well as to improve public safety.

“There is a direct and immediate cost to crime, especially if we wait until crime occurs,” said Bambarger, adding that society also has psychological, moral and financial obligations to address risk factors for crime early. “The same things that put children at risk for drug use are the same things that put children at risk for violence.”

Diane Williams, president of the Safer Foundation in Chicago, spoke on the reentry panel from her experience working with individuals working to turn their lives around.

“There are no second chances out there,” said Williams. “The possibility of getting rid of collateral sanctions is almost non-existent in most jurisdictions. Is there a way that we will ever welcome people fully back to the community? I hope the answer is yes.” ..News Source.. by The Sentencing Project