Teresa Sheehan was shot by two officers at a group home during a mental health crisis with the San Francisco Police Department in 2008, when Vice President Kamala Harris was serving as the District Attorney of San Francisco.
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Prison reform advocates have repeatedly pushed the notion that the U.S. has a mass incarceration problem, but a soon-to-be released Heritage Foundation study casts doubt on that claim.
Left-wing proponents of criminal justice reform claim that masses of individuals, including an unfair rate of minorities, are languishing in America’s country’s prisons, but they do not take into account the vast number of crimes that go unsolved or the number of criminals who avoid jail time, according to the report. The data show that any mass release of the U.S. prison population would result in a high number of individuals convicted of violent crimes being put back into American communities.
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Over the past decade or so, America has undertaken a radical experiment with criminal justice reform. The consequences have been devastating.
The number of people arrested in America each year has fallen sharply over the past two decades. Public prosecutors now prosecute significantly fewer cases. Those that are convicted can generally expect shorter sentences. The combined effect of all this is that America’s prison population is now 25 percent lower than it was in 2011.
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Two and a half years ago, pre-COVID and before surging crime and fentanyl overdoses gripped San Francisco, District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s left-wing lineage seemed a perfect fit for the liberal bastion by the bay.
Likewise, California Rep. Karen Bass was a barometer of Los Angeles’ transformation into a sprawling progressive metropolis. A former Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman, Bass was a top contender to become Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020 and was considered a likely contender for a statewide office.
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Michigan ranked 7th nationwide in the CATO Institute’s 2021 Freedom in the States report.
The rankings use 230 metrics to rank states on how their policies promote freedom in fiscal, regulatory and personal realms. The Wolverine state advanced two spots from 2018 and four since 2016.
Michigan’s tax burden is 5.9% of adjusted personal income, while government debt is now below average at 15.9% of income.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Monday signed a package of 20 criminal justice reform bills into law.
The bills, championed by the bipartisan Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration, are intended to prioritize incarceration alternatives and grant law enforcement officers more discretion when issuing appearance tickets rather than making arrests; and restructure penalties for traffic offenses.
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The Michigan Senate passed bipartisan criminal justice reform bills that aim to protect public safety, keep nonviolent offenders out of jail, and make it easier for people to get jobs.
House Bills 5844 and 5854-5857 aim to reform a wide range of mandatory minimum sentences to allow judges discretion in sentencing nonviolent, minor crimes to account for collateral damages of the criminal justice system like broken families.
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A Michigan task force established by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has recommended a number of sweeping changes to the state’s criminal justice system, including lowering probation terms and reclassifying most traffic offenses as civil infractions.
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As he prepared to announce his candidacy for president on Sunday, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took a page from an old political playbook.
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A package of criminal justice reform bills with bipartisan support passed in Michigan’s House floor Tuesday.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Thursday signed “Raise the Age” legislation that increased the age a person can be charged with a crime as an adult from 17 years old to 18 years old. A stipulation in the bill allows for 17-year-olds who are charged with crimes like rape or murder to be tried as adults.
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A bill that would place 17-year-olds in the juvenile justice system instead of the adult criminal court system, barring heinous crimes, passed the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety on Thursday. The Raise the Age bill is sponsored by Sen. Peter Lucido, R-Shelby Township.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis wants the Florida Supreme Court to issue an advisory opinion on whether convicted felons must pay all fines and fees before their voting rights are restored under Amendment 4, the November 2018 ballot measure approved by 64.5 percent of state voters.
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