Smart on Crime Coalition's criminal reform report

Earlier this month, The Blog of LegalTimes had a posting in which it discussed the Smart on Crime Coalition’s recent report in which it sought to recommend reforms to Congress & the Administration ranging from mandatory recording of police interrogations to ensuring the improvements in indigent defense and eradicating prison rape.

That Coalition – comprised of groups such as the American Bar Association, American Civil Liberties Union, National Legal Aid & Defender Association, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and Heritage Foundation -- says it "seeks to provide federal policymakers in both Congress and the Administration a comprehensive, systematic analysis of the current challenges facing state and federal criminal justice systems and recommendations to address those challenges. The main focus of Smart on Crime is the steps the federal government can take to improve federal criminal justice and support states seeking to improve their own systems."

BLT observed that "the report notes that since the coalition issued a similar set of recommendations at the beginning of the Obama administration in 2009, 'too little has been accomplished,' but, with the need for reform only increasing, the group reconvened and updated the recommendations." The effort took on an added urgency in response to Senator Jim Webb's (D-Va.) announcement that he was re-introducing a bill that would "establish a National Criminal Justice Commission to undertake a comprehensive review of all areas of the criminal justice system, including federal, state, local, and tribal governments' criminal justice costs, practices, and policies."

The Library of Congress' summary said further that the earlier bill would’ve "directed that Commission to: (1) make findings regarding its review and recommendations for changes in oversight, policies, practices, and laws designed to prevent, deter, and reduce crime and violence, improve cost-effectiveness, and ensure the interests of justice; (2) conduct public hearings in various locations around the United States; (3) consult with federal, state, local, and tribal government and nongovernmental leaders and other stakeholders in the criminal justice system, including the U.S. Sentencing Commission; and (4) submit a final report, within 18 months after its formation, to Congress, the President, and state, local, and tribal governments, and make such report available to the public." [ SB 714 (2010) ]


Topics addressed in the Report include innocence claims & wrongful convictions, prisons & the death penalty, federal sentencing, indigent defense, and juvenile issues.

The Report’s executive summary is Here, and complete report Here