Plans for Criminal Justice Reform from the Biden Administration
Plans for Criminal Justice Reform from the Biden Administration
Colorado Lawyer Team – https://colawteam.com
Mass shootings, police brutality, protests, storming the Capitol, and more, are recent events that have escalated the urgency for criminal justice reforms based on empirical evidence. President Joe Biden has made criminal justice reform a top priority for his administration and has a plan that he believes will help the criminal justice system. It is recommended that Biden includes a focus on evidence-based reform in three areas:
- Prosecutorial charging discretion
- Participatory defense efforts
- The needs of Sustainability Tools for Assessing and Rating (STAR) communities
Prosecutors are a powerful force in the criminal justice system. However, many believe that the way they operate can be detrimental to the people they judge. Prosecutors often have many cases to deal with at one time, which some argue is due to over-policing.
As a result, many feel that the overload of cases does not allow prosecutors enough time to process information and make fair charging decisions. Factors in their personal life may also unintentionally influence their decision-making. Novice attorneys can also cause delays in the court process due to a lack of experience, which can result in suspects being held in jail for weeks or even months.
Participatory Defense
The U.S. criminal justice system incarcerates more of its citizens than any other industrialized nation. The majority of these cases are handled by public defenders or assigned counsel. Similar to prosecutors, public defenders are often overworked and underpaid. Due to their extensive workload, they often meet their clients for the first time just minutes before their court hearing, and some argue that they encourage clients to plead guilty. In turn, the arguments go, this is unfair to those in need of representation but who cannot afford a high-end lawyer. Even if when someone cannot afford legal counsel, that does not mean they do not deserve good legal representation.
Participatory defense could help people who have to use public defenders for their case. The goal of participatory defense is to show the prosecutor a human being rather than a list of charges. To do this, the family and friends of the defendant can work with their public defender to create a complete image of their loved one. The idea is that if the prosecutor knows more about the defendant than just their charges, the defendant may be able to receive a fairer judgment.
President Joe Biden’s Plan
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign rode on a lot of promises, one of them being a commitment to justice and reforming the U.S. criminal justice system. He has advocated for the immediate passage of Congressman Bobby Scott’s SAFE Justice Act. The SAFE Justice Act is an evidence-based bill to reform the criminal justice system “from front-end sentencing reform to back-end release policies.” The plan entails the following:
- Preventing crime and providing opportunities for all
- Eliminating racial disparities and ensuring fair sentences
- Offering second chances
- Reducing violence in our communities and supporting survivors of violence.
In order to have successful criminal justice reform, the Biden Administration believes we must reduce the number of people who are incarcerated, while also reducing crime. The Biden Administration also believes that the criminal justice system will not truly be just until disparities that focus on race, gender, and income are removed. The criminal justice system has to be adjusted to focus on redemption and rehabilitation—and no one should be profiting in the meantime.
Offering second chances to those who have been impacted by the U.S. criminal justice system can help reduce crime by giving these individuals an opportunity to live a positive life, rather than a life of crime. In a lot of cases, ex-convicts have no money and no home to go to once they are released from prison, which often leads them to commit another crime. In order to provide second chances, the Biden Administration has said it will focus on:
- Setting a national goal of ensuring 100% of formerly incarcerated individuals have housing upon reentry
- Eliminating existing barriers preventing formerly incarcerated individuals from fully participating in society
- Expanding access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment, as well as educational opportunities and job training for individuals during and after incarceration
With high aspirations in their crosshairs, only time will tell if the Biden administration can uproot these systemic issues in the criminal justice system.
