Five Things This Week: Oversight in Pretrial Implementation, New Report on Incarcerated Women & More

“There is much to be done to continue to improve public safety in New Mexico, but the crucial next steps are to focus on oversight to ensure the work is getting done.”
 
This week, Justice Action Network’s Executive Director Jenna Bottler had an op-ed published in the Albuquerque Journal. In the op-ed, Bottler argues that lawmakers need to focus on refinement of its pretrial policies after reform. 
 
Bottler writes: “For starters, no one can address shortcomings in New Mexico’s detention policies without an honest accounting of the problem. That’s because the laws that govern how we deliver justice are just one part of an effective system that keeps communities safe. The rest of policy success comes after a law has been passed and lies in agency implementation and maintenance. That’s where lawmakers should focus now: on regular validation of the [risk assessment] tool, adequate judicial guidance and training for judges.”
 
“I would argue the FSA actually disincentivizes medium- and high-risk people because why should they take a program that they won’t get time credit for, while the guy next to them is getting credit for the same program?”

The First Step Act was a bipartisan bright spot in a particularly divided time in our political environment, but it really should be viewed as just a first step, Hugh Hurwitz argues this week in The Hill. 
 
While FSA incentivizes programming for lower-level offenders, recidivism-reducing programming is important for offenders of all types and congress should take up legislation to expand the efforts. “We need Congress to act now, in another bi-partisan effort, to pass laws that will ensure everyone incarcerated today is incentivized and given access to programs that will help reduce their recidivism risk.”
 
“This report provides a detailed view of the 172,700 women and girls incarcerated in the United States, and how they fit into the even broader picture of correctional control.”
 
Just in time for Women’s History Month, Prison Policy has released a report on mass incarceration of women. A detailed view of the 172,700 women and girls incarcerated in the United States, the report breaks down the number of women and girls held by correctional system and offense. The findings focus on the outcomes of our current system of incarcerating women – who tend to be held for different offenses than men – including the increased incidence of mental health issues in female inmates. 
 
“If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did — I’ll sign it.”

This week, President Joe Biden stated that he would sign a GOP-led resolution to block D.C.'s criminal sentencing laws if it makes it to his desk. If Congress passes the resolution, it will represent the first successful vote to block a D.C. bill in more than 30 years. Politics around the issue continue to be complicated by D.C. Mayor Bowser’s own veto of the change, and what seems to be a constantly heightened sensitivity to criminal justice reforms from both parties. 
 
According to the Washington Post, “The major revisions to D.C.’s criminal code are the product of more than a decade of collaboration among prosecutors, defense attorneys and criminal justice researchers to update the century-old code and restructure how crimes are sentenced.”
 
Advocacy groups have expressed disappointment in the decision. One group, FAMM, issued the following statement: “The bill to reform DC’s criminal code was a thoughtfully planned update of a woefully outdated code. It took 16 years to reach its current form, and included smart reforms like expanding DC’s second look law and eliminating nearly all of the district’s counterproductive mandatory minimums. If the revision is nullified, DC will continue to be governed by a code that hasn’t been reviewed since before the Model T.”
 
“We read hundreds of pages of documents produced for kids who were eventually tried as adults. Many of these children have been diagnosed with PTSD or mental illness. They’ve been in foster care, or had parents incarcerated. Some have seen their friends murdered.”
 
This week, Minnesota’s KARE 11 published an investigation on Minnesota’s juvenile justice system, which was published in six parts. The seven-part multimedia report takes a nuanced view of several aspects of the failing juvenile justice system for children, victims, families, public safety and more, and urges lawmakers to take steps prevent youth from falling through the cracks in the future. 
 
You can read and watch the full investigative report here.