Currently, most people facing charges for various crimes in California can navigate the criminal justice system more easily than in the past. Initially, many offenders would face discrimination in court because of their race and socioeconomic status. The criminal justice reform helped stop the discriminatory imprisonment common in the criminal justice system. Successful reforms, however, can only be achieved if there is a change to stop harsh policing and racial profiling, among other issues.
Criminal Justice Reform
Criminal justice reform aims to reduce the number of inmates under correctional control through litigation and advocacy. Advocating for reforms at different levels of government could eradicate specific issues before they become worse.
Criminal justice systems are imperfect, so reforms are necessary to rectify them. Several organizations have participated in various ways to advocate for criminal justice reforms, including:
- Changing policies that guide food help programs and former defendants’ voting rights.
- Changing statutes for a minimum jail term.
- Changing policies that govern drug-related sentencing.
- Giving priority to rehabilitation of offenders, especially juvenile offenders.
- Reducing severe jail terms.
- Decriminalizing specific laws, including drug policies.
Reforms should be offender-centered, regardless of how they work to improve the criminal justice system. The primary purpose of reforms should be to offer rehabilitation and redemption to offenders once they complete their jail terms.
Why Reforms Are Crucial In The Criminal Justice System
The population in the U.S. accounts for only 5% of the entire global population, yet 25% of the people in prison globally are in the United States. This is a severe problem. Some of the reasons reforms are crucial in the criminal justice system include:
To Re-Evaluate The 1994 Crime Bill
The 1994 crime bill increased the funding used to build jails and prisons, thus increasing the number of inmates and the period of imprisonment. The bill also reduced the likelihood of early custody release. Taxpayers' money came in handy to invest in enforcing the bill. These measures led to an increase in imprisonment, especially for African-American men. Unfortunately, the bill had minimal influence on public safety.
To Re-assess Statutes Governing Mandatory Minimum Jail Term
A mandatory minimum jail term is the least sentence the court can impose for a particular crime, regardless of its unique circumstances. A mandatory minimum jail term applies to certain charges. Every offense has a specific period for which you could serve time in jail if you are guilty, and mandatory minimums are applicable in many cases.
Most federal criminals serve sentences under the mandatory minimum jail term requirement. Unfortunately, there has been no correlated improvement in public safety. Prosecutors only work hard to send offenders to jail or prison. Prosecutors often accuse defendants of crimes that lead to jail time or imprisonment. The prosecutor could also threaten you with a lengthy jail term if you plead guilty and, in turn, serve the mandatory minimum jail time.
Most people demand a reassessment of the mandatory minimum laws and significant changes. Critics claim that the judge's power to decide based on the case's specific circumstances or the offender's conduct should no longer apply.
The federal prison system has dramatically grown due to mandatory minimum sentence statutes in place, especially those associated with drugs. The federal laws related to drugs can subject you to a longer maximum sentence than other crimes. Some drug crimes attract 40 years imprisonment, while others even attract life imprisonment. Crimes involving small quantities of drugs can also subject you to years of imprisonment. There is unfair sentencing for drug-associated crimes that mainly targets poor offenders.
According to the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, you could serve a minimum of five years in prison for the following quantities of drugs:
- 100 kg of marijuana.
- 5g of meth.
- 1kg of heroin.
- 40g of fentanyl.
- 5g of crack.
- 500g of cocaine.
Drug and mandatory minimum laws affecting drug offenders are rough, especially for poor offenders. People of color and poor people usually engage in non-violent drug offenses. Poor offenders cannot access important information on criminal organizations. In this situation, many poor offenders do not stand a chance of being found guilty of the alleged crime. For this reason, most federal drug crime offenders enter a guilty plea every year.
Enable Effective Management Of Minor Offenders
Under the current justice system, minor offenders can face charges in adult court, where they do not qualify for parole. Policing schools and neighborhoods also illegalize minor crimes, leading to avoidable violence. This usually causes psychological stigma and trauma that enhances criminal activity. A combined effort across the criminal justice system is required to handle these challenges. Taking the relevant measures can keep crime rates low and reduce incarceration.
To Stop Racism In Prison Systems
In 2016, the Pew Research Center revealed that the racial statistics were as follows:
- Hispanics made up 16% of the country's population, and more than 23% were in confinement.
- African Americans made up 12% of the country's population and accounted for 33% of the prison population.
- Caucasians made up 64% of the country's population, and 30% were in prison.
More people of color face sentencing in state and federal prisons nationwide than white people. According to the above statistics, the number of African Americans imprisoned is five times higher than that of white people. In New Jersey, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Vermont, the ratio of blacks imprisoned to whites was ten to one. Oklahoma is the state with the highest rate of black imprisonment in the whole country. One in 15 inmates in this state is a black male aged 18 or older.
Let us compare the same offense committed by a white and a black offender. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the likelihood of a black person facing an arrest for possession of marijuana is four times greater than that of a white person. This is even though the rate of use of marijuana among white and black people is almost the same.
Hispanics and Latinos also face similar racial disparities. Latinos in the United States are incarcerated nearly 1.5 times more than white people. However, African Americans are twice as likely to be imprisoned as Hispanics.
Racism is a serious problem in the justice system, whether at the state or federal level. Strict drug laws, institutionalized discrimination, over-criminalization, and racial profiling lead to alarming racial discrimination statistics. The system in the U.S. does not favor poor people, and this usually affects black people.
To Address Overcrowding in Prisons
America has many people under correctional control, making it the leading country in incarceration worldwide. Around 2.2 million people in the U.S. are in jails or prisons, while others are serving probation. Some people are also under community-based surveillance and parole. Statistics also reveal that around 100 million people in the U.S. have a criminal record. Therefore, of every 31 adults, one ends up in prison. The likelihood of incarceration in the U.S. is much higher than in most nations worldwide.
The prisons in America are too small to accommodate the ever-growing numbers of inmates. The government can also not fund prisons despite high taxation to ensure proper prison funding. However, most imprisonments are not the result of high rates of offense. Most imprisonments occur because of the need to adhere to highly punitive policies and sentencing laws. Reforms are required in the criminal justice system to eliminate these punitive statutes.
Hillary Clinton’s website outlines that most inmates are non-violent offenders. Therefore, more space can be made available in prison by releasing non-violent offenders or having them face alternative punishments. However, some critics claim that overpopulation in prisons is due to mass imprisonment because of unfair drug charges.
An attempt to deal with drug offenses led to strict drug laws that resulted in high drug-related imprisonments. Mental illness or drug addiction issues compel most of these offenders. This causes previous offenders to be imprisoned again or remain in prison for longer because of ineffective efforts to rehabilitate them.
Another cause of overpopulation in prisons is the criminal justice system, which intensifies racial and socioeconomic inequalities in minority communities. This leads to relapses, unemployment, or other social impediments. These issues in minority communities result in high crime rates and incarceration.
The COVID-19 pandemic also exposed the criminal justice system's ineffectiveness, which relies on imprisonment. The Time Magazine research showed that 39% of inmates were not a threat to the public. Around 25% of the 39% were non-violent poor offenders who could benefit through other means of rehabilitation. Approximately 14% had completed their long-term sentences for severe crimes and were due to leave jail. Setting these people free could save the country billions of dollars each year, which could help to employ other civil servants, including probation officers, law enforcement officers, and school teachers. This initiative could reduce the unemployment crime rate and, in turn, reduce overcrowding in prisons.
Irrespective of the cause of overcrowding in prisons, overcrowding comprises a prison’s ability to meet basic human needs.
To Change Law Enforcement And Policing Methods
Dispatching armed and uniformed police to respond to 911 calls often leads to criminal injustice. Most 911 calls are not made because of property or violent-related offenses. The police are not supposed to respond to some of these calls. Most people, particularly the poor, do not make emergency calls because they fear that those who will respond will be law enforcement officers. Reforms are required to ensure the right responders are dispatched to handle specific cases, especially psychological distress or drug-related cases.
Eliminate Over-criminalization
Most of the issues in the U.S. criminal justice system stem from the U.S. Code. The U.S. Code has many laws that people cannot read and understand. Most crimes are not clearly defined, which reduces the level of accountability. Hundreds of thousands of violations could subject you to criminal penalties. You can be convicted of most of these crimes, even if you commit them unintentionally.
To Reduce Poverty That Inhibits Recidivism And Prevention
Drug use and mental health are the main issues that contribute to incarceration. Money spent on policing and detention facilities can be better spent on community prevention and treatment programs. Federal financial aid and education support can help rehabilitate those in prison and give them a second chance. Also, the system requiring people to post cash bail adds to the problem since most people cannot afford to post bail.
Signs That Criminal Justice Reform Is Working In California
For years, voters and lawmakers adopted a series of severe, one-size-fits-all sentencing statutes. The statutes gave priority to punishment rather than rehabilitation. This caused severe overpopulation in state prisons, and the most affected people were Latinos and Blacks. Most families still feel the repercussions today. The criminal justice system began to change its harsh sentencing laws after prison overcrowding reached crisis proportions. In 2009, the federal court ordered the reduction of overcrowding to less than 137.5% of the prison capacity, and the order still works to this day.
Reforms at the state level were passed into law through legislative action and voter approval. The reforms have focused on the following:
- Addressing the disparate impacts of criminal justice policies on people of color, especially Latinos and Black communities.
- Promoting more effective strategies for rehabilitation.
- Reducing imprisonment.
The typical indicators that efforts to reduce mass imprisonment are working include:
Crime And Imprisonment Rates Have Decreased. Since the Mid-2000s
Crime and imprisonment rates have significantly decreased. Adult imprisonment was reduced by more than one-third from 2006 to 2019. Similarly, the rate of property crimes was reduced by more than one-quarter, and the violent crime rate was reduced by one-fifth.
Property And Violent Crime Rates Have Significantly Decreased
In 2019, the property crime rate decreased significantly compared to 1980. The rate of violent crimes also decreased substantially by 2019 compared to 1992. The property and crime rates continue to decrease because of the reforms.
The adult Imprisonment Rate Has Decreased Compared To The Early 1990s
The number of adults imprisoned has decreased because of the implementation of criminal justice reforms. In 2019, the property crime rate decreased significantly, compared to June 2006. The imprisonment rate also decreased slightly in June 2019 compared to the June 1990 level of 315. Unfortunately, the imprisonment rate of certain races, especially Latinos and Blacks, is still high compared to that of whites.
The State Stopped The Use Of Out-Of-State Prisons Because Of The Declining Incarceration
In 2006, the state started transferring imprisoned adults to prisons in other states to reduce overcrowding in the state prisons. The policymakers in the state took this step despite out-of-state private prisons creating substantial barriers to humane conditions of care and rehabilitation. More than 10,000 inmates were moved to other states in the early 2010s.
However, the state gradually reduced its reliance on facilities in other states as incarceration declined. The state is also on track to terminate the use of all in-state contract facilities for men because of the ongoing decline in the prison population. The 2020–21 budget package took effect purposefully to terminate two state-owned prisons soon.
The Number Of Adults Imprisoned By The State Has Significantly Reduced
The state-imprisoned adults fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Nine out of ten of these adults are in 34 state-owned prisons. The remaining men and women are in other prisons scattered throughout the state, including public and private prisons under contract with CDCR. Most of the state prisoners were in out-of-state prisons until recently. In 2007, the number of adults imprisoned by the state exceeded 173,000. During this period, state prisons are overcrowded by twice their capacity. However, the number was reduced to 113,403 after criminal justice reforms and the adoption of new policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emerging California Criminal Laws
California has been advocating for reforms in criminal law, especially regarding changing laws and improving the lives of former criminals. The legislature recently enacted several bills that expanded and changed policies and procedures. The purpose was to enhance public safety by reducing recidivism rates among former criminals. Some of the bills include:
Senate Bill 731 – Criminal Record Relief
SB 731 took effect in July 2023, aiming to assist individuals with criminal records. With some exceptions, this statute will automatically seal the criminal records of individuals who have completed their jail terms. The current law does not allow individuals charged with certain crimes to petition for relief until released from jail or ten years after conviction. SB 731, however, reduces the ten-year provision to five years. This law also retroactively applies to individuals convicted of an offense who completed their sentence and were released for at least ten years.
Assembly Bill 2799
AB 2799 is a Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act that precludes poems, lyrics, and other artistic expressions from being used as proof in civil and criminal proceedings, with some exceptions. This law aims to decriminalize artistic expression, defined as any form of expression that the First Amendment protects. AB 2799 permits artists to continue their creativity without fear of being charged.
Assembly Bill 2147 – Decriminalization Of Jaywalking
Jaywalking was unlawful and chargeable as a crime before the enactment of AB 2147. Jaywalking will no longer be a criminal offense after the passage of this law. It will only be a civil crime resulting in the issuing of a ticket rather than an arrest or citation. AB 2147 became effective on January 1, 2023, and it is no longer a crime for you to jaywalk as long as you are comfortable doing so.
Find A Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Near Me
Many attorneys and organizations across the U.S. are advocating for criminal justice reforms. You, too, can be part of the criminal justice reforms. We invite you to contact The Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney to discuss recent reforms, including how they can affect you. Contact us at 310-564-2605 to speak to one of our attorneys.
