to their victimswww.PeopleNow.org
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
“By far the most important initiative and best opportunity for reform in the world ever”
DRAFT
UN SDG Target 16.1.1 & Target Action Plan TAP 29
TAP 29 Humane Criminal Justice:
• To end the spread of COVID-19 among detainees, as rapidly as possible:
• Implement nationwide universal federal regulations including for example, adequate healthcare, vaccinations for detainees and guards, a strict mask mandate, temperature checks, mobile hand washing stations, social distancing rules, etc.
• Make necessary accommodations in jails, prisons, hospitals and public buildings.
• Conduct questioning of detainees, arraignments, trials, hearings, etc. virtually.
• Have mental health professionals and correctional officials examine the records of everyone incarcerated in all federal, state, county and city prisons and jails
• Provide each of the incarcerated individual rehabilitation plans which include amount of restitution to be paid to their victim(s), fines, civil forfeitures, and/or community service
• Release those who can safely be released ensuring that they have a job, the necessities for a decent life, a social network and become self-sufficient
• Provide those that cannot safely be released jobs at living wages in co-ops and kept under supervision and/or committed until they can safely be released
(Updated May 6, 2021)
Please provide refinements and additions to PeopleNow.org by
email to: info@peoplenow.org
29 Humane Criminal Justice
29.1.1 We need everyone possible to stay healthy, not be in jail or prison and work at living wages on implementing the UN SDGs, which will end wars, global warming, poverty, hunger, etc.
29.1.2 This is the second of two target action plans to reform criminal justice. It focuses on perpetrators already in prison or jail. The first plan TAP30 is about ongoing prosecution and future crimes and investigations which should be read first.
29.1.3 The outstanding report Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020 by Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner, March 24, 2020, pieces together the United States fragmented American criminal justice system which holds almost 2.3 million people in 1,833 state prisons, 110 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,134 local jails, 218 immigration detention facilities and 80 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories. This report provides a detailed look at where and why people are locked up in the U.S., and dispels some modern myths to focus attention on the real drivers of mass incarceration, including exceedingly punitive responses to even the most minor offenses.
29.1.4 This plan and these humane restorative justice principles and practices do not excuse crimes, nor do they permit the release of someone who is a threat to society or themselves.
29.1.5 The primary, purposes of criminal justice are to protect the public from
perpetrators of crimes, to rehabilitate perpetrators, have perpetrators be
apologetic and contrite and make amends to and appropriately
compensate and pay restitutions
to their victims
29.1.6 The best way to get them to do this is not by punishment, confrontations, public embarrassments or threats, none of which work. Perpetrators must receive the appropriate mental health care and be led to understand the damages, suffering and misery that their injustices have caused and are causing and to encourage them to decide that they want to be productive, cooperative members of society.
29.1.7 This Plan to humanely reform criminal justice in federal, state, county and city jails and prisons proposes to:
29.1.7.1 End all punishment, solitary confinement, police and prison violence, the death penalty, solitary confinement, bail bond, etc.
29.1.7.2 Have experts decide and release those who can safely be released.
29.1.7.3 Until they can safely be released, keep others under appropriate supervision and busy with individual rehabilitation - treatment plans in rehabilitation - treatment centers and half-way houses with worker co-ops, close to families and friends. Use timely restorative justice and reconciliation and encourage perpetrators to provide restitution and/or compensation for their victims and society.
29.1.8 Our current justice has very lenient, almost non-existent criminal justice for the wealthy and senior public and private sector officials who violate the law and harsh criminal justice for the people who cannot afford expensive attorneys. Whether or not individuals go to prison usually depends upon whether or not he or she can afford an expensive attorney who knows the judge.
29.1.9 Numerous official reports, books and articles describe the horrors, wastefulness and illegality of U.S. wars, assassinations, drone attacks, torture and abuse of detainees, spying and massive financial crimes.
29.1.10 Yet, after untold years of these illegalities and despite hundreds of
thousands of petitions, phone calls, emails demonstrations and
“occupations of offices,” not one high-ranking official that authorized and
planned these illegal acts has been indicted and not one survivor of U.S.
torture has succeeded in holding these officials accountable in a U.S.
court for torture.
29.1.11 Numerous studies, books and articles describe the deplorable conditions in our prisons and criminal justice system, including the Criminal Justice Commission Act, which Senator Jim Webb introduced in March 2009 and reintroduced in 2010 and 2011, Yet, despite numerous petitions, phone calls and demonstrations very little has been done and Senator Webb’s proposed legislation for a Criminal Justice Commission was blocked by 43 Senators threatening to filibuster against it and voting against cloture
29.1.12 The following Table of Contents outlines the major elements of this plan. Each item in the plan can be accessed by clicking on the page number for that item.
29.4.4 Treat the Accused, Defendants, Incarcerated and Civilly Committed Humanely.
29.4.5 Ensure Just Investigations and Adjudication
29.4.8 Phase out all privately owned and ultimately all prisons
29.4.10 Repudiate Any Notion of Immunity or Impunity of Senior Private and Public Sector Officials
29.4.11 Prohibit the Use of “State Secrets” or Executive Privilege in Criminal or Civil Cases.
29.4.14 Congress Provide the Funding to Support These Actions.
29.5 Background on U.S. Criminal Justice and Prisons
29.5.1 The Proposed National Criminal Justice Commission Act
29.5.6 Statement on prison reform
29.5.7 Additional problems with criminal justice and prisons
29.6 Examples of Successful "Restorative Justice" Programs
___________
Revamp, reform and improve all aspects of America's criminal justice system and prisons using constitutional, humane, restorative justice, reconciliation, rehabilitation, deferred prosecutions, and modern psychology principles and practices to hold perpetrators of crimes accountable and rehabilitate and restore both victims and perpetrators of crimes.
29.3.1 Implement UN SDG Target 16.1.1 Eliminate all police, prison and other institutional violence, the death penalty, solitary confinement, bail bonds, etc. and the resultant deaths and injuries
29.3.2 Prevent and markedly reduce crimes, violence, recidivism, prison populations and markedly reduce the overall cost of criminal justice.
29.3.3 Screen all prisoners and detainees and pardon those who can safely be released. Provide individual rehabilitation and reentry plans for those remaining in prison. Compensate those who have been wrongfully convicted or mistreated
29.3.4 Treat victims, defendants, prisoners and detainees humanely, ensure their rights are strictly protected and provide restorative justice opportunities for all.
29.3.5 Address the long-term consequences of incarceration.
29.3.6 Eliminate overcrowding and the deplorable conditions in our jails and prisons
29.3.7 Recalculate who goes to prison and for how long. (See below paragraph IV. B. Different Justice for Senior Public and Private Sector Officials and the Rich Versus Low Level Officials and the Poor.)
29.3.8 Cease militarizing and demilitarize all of America’s police forces including military equipment, procedures and practices.
29.3.9 End detention, torture, extraordinary rendition, ensure fair trials and utilize Article III courts for criminal trials including In the case of terrorism suspects.
29.3.10 Reform surveillance policies and practices at the federal, state, and local levels to restore personal privacy, and protect the right to dissent
29.3.11 End the profiling of and discrimination against and help build the voices of, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian individuals and communities in the United States
29.3.12 Curb excessive government secrecy and expand government oversight, and hold government officials and private actors to account for abuses in particular committed in the name of national security and promote national security and counterterrorism policies that respect human rights, civil liberties, and the rule-of-law
29.3.13 Provide strategies, procedures to humanely and privately (not secretly) negotiate settlement with prosecute lawbreakers using restorative justice as outlined in TAP 30 which is outlined in www.HumaneProsecutions.org
29.4.1 Have mental health professionals and correctional officials examine the records of everyone incarcerated in all federal, state, county and city prisons and jails and release nonviolent offenders and others who can safely be released so that they can work, support their families and compensate and pay restitution to their victims. Keep those remaining that are threats to society "under appropriate supervision, treat them with sympathy and understanding" initiate individual rehabilitation and reentry plans for each of them and provide them jobs in co-ops at living wages so they can support their families and compensate and pay restitution to their victims.
29.4.1.1 Ensure that all those released have a reentry plan with, health care, affordable shelter, counseling and a network of supporters. Mentally ill persons who have committed crimes should be treated in facilities designed for the safe treatment of the mentally ill while guaranteeing the safety of society. Releasing individuals from prisons that are not a threat to society will allow more attention to be applied to those that cannot yet be released.
29.4.1.2 Counsel them, and help them learn to be cooperative and how to be interested in and helpful to their fellow human beings.
29.4.1.3 Release prisoners with diagnosed mental disorders to secure mental health treatment centers. Ensure psychological and medical care and rehabilitation services for mentally ill .
29.4.1.4 Release all prisoners who are too old and/or infirmed to pose a threat to society to their families or less expensive, community-based facilities.
29.4.1.5 Treat substance abuse and all crimes as a habit or mental health
problems. Free all non-violent incarcerated prisoners of the war on drugs
that can safely be released. Provide treatment to parolees and
probationers who fail a drug test instead of re-incarceration.
29.4.1.5.1 The individual's background and accomplishments, the mitigating and extenuating circumstances of alleged crime(s) and the individuals physical, health, educational, psychological, financial and social needs
29.4.1.5.2 Why they exhibit inappropriate behavior
29.4.1.5.3 What should be done to help correct such behavior
29.4.1.5.4 Identify those individuals who can safely be released and those that should be kept under supervision/confined, to protect the public from their criminal behavior.
29.4.2 Make comprehensive and timely preparations for the reentry into society of those released and each of those remaining incarcerated including employment opportunities at living wages, health care, affordable shelter, counseling, a network of supporters, etc.
29.4.2.1 “Make reduction of recidivism a primary goal of parole. Treat parole as a
time of reintegration into the community, not as a continuation of
sentence. Before their release, provide community reentry programs
”,
group therapy, in-prison training, work-release programs, continual
assessments and increased visitation and internet contact access.
“Provide access to education, addiction and psychological treatment, job
training, work and housing upon their release. Provide counseling and
other services to the members of a parolee's family, to help them with the
changes caused by the parolee's return. Prevent unwarranted search
without reasonable cause to parolees and their homes.
”
29.4.2.2 There shall be a presumption of parole at the earliest release date. Release decisions shall be based upon validated, dynamic risk assessments and performance (including therapy) while incarcerated. The nature of the offense of conviction and criminal history shall not be a factor other than the impact they may have on the outcome of a risk assessment.
29.4.2.3 Lack of programming staff shall not be used as rationale to delay release. Based upon validated risk assessment results, persons who have not completed programming through no fault of their own shall be released to the community where they shall receive community treatment and monitoring to ensure their successful re-entry.
29.4.2.4 Everyone past his or her minimum release date shall have an opportunity for release continually.
29.4.2.5 No one shall be denied release because of a pending appeal or for lack of a home placement. If the individual is not able to live with family members, adequate housing shall be provided outside of the prison system
29.4.2.6 Counsel and release all those who are not a threat to society. Insure that all released are afforded employment opportunities, health care, affordable shelter, counseling and a network of supporters. Mentally ill persons who have committed crimes or commit crimes should be treated in facilities designed for the safe treatment of the mentally ill while guaranteeing the safety of society. Releasing individuals from prisons that are not a threat to society will allow more attention to be applied to those that cannot yet be released.
29.4.2.7 Anyone released from a prison shall have had access to a re-entry program for assistance with housing, transportation, job searching, health care, and other needs.
29.4.2.8 All persons leaving prison shall have:
29.4.2.8.1 Their birth certificate, social security card, and state ID card
29.4.2.8.2 Access to earned benefits: Social security, veteran's benefits, pension payments, disability payments, etc.
29.4.2.9 Licensing restrictions shall be imposed only if there is a strong correlation between the crime(s) committed and the activity being licensed.
29.4.2.10 Incarceration shall not be extended through mechanisms such as civil commitment, lifetime parole, or home confinement.
29.4.2.11 No individual shall be subject to residency restrictions.
29.4.2.12 Community supervision, in the form of probation, parole, or registration shall be imposed only if a dynamic risk assessment indicates it is warranted. No fee shall be charged by the state for probation or parole services. This is the responsibility of the state government.
29.4.2.13 There shall be no public registry and persons shall be not be listed on police registries unless they screen high risk on a dynamic risk instrument. .
29.4.3 Ensure Rights of Victims, the Accused, Defendants and Incarcerated and Civilly Committed Are Strictly Protected. Ensure rights of all are strictly protected as guaranteed by the Constitution (Salient Rights), the International Covenants on Human Rights and other laws during all phases of the criminal justice process including:
29.4.3.1 Amendment VI of the U.S. Constitution includes: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ...to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.” “Shall enjoy” mandates that this right may not be waived by the court, the accused or anyone else. The counsel providing the assistance must have the qualifications, resources, and time to thoroughly explore the circumstances surrounding the crime and advocate for the defendant whether the crime is considered violent or nonviolent and whether it is resolved by trial, plea agreement, Alford plea, deferred prosecution, etc..
29.4.3.2 Privacy rights to keep the name(s) of the defendants, the victims and the documentation being prepared for their prosecution private (not secret) and not revealed or “leaked” to the public until after they are actually indicted. The defendants does of course have a right to a public trial.
29.4.3.3 Evidence of someone's innocence, must be considered regardless of when that evidence becomes available and whether or not the court process or representation was flawed.
29.4.3.4 Establish and fund programs to strengthen self-help and community action through neighborhood centers that provide legal aid, alternative dispute-resolution practices, mediated restitution, community team policing, and access to local crisis/assault care shelters.
29.4.3.5 Establish elected or appointed independent civilian review boards with subpoena power to investigate complaints about prison guard and community police behavior. Sharply restrict police use of weapons and restraining techniques such as pepper spray, stun belts, tasers and choke holds.
29.4.3.6 Abolish commercial bail bonding Determining suitability for pre-trial release should not be based on how much money a defendant can pay, but by using evidence-based practices to determine who can and cannot be released under supervision, while providing for necessary intervention to protect public safety.
29.4.3.7 Provide parole violators appropriate counseling, jobs, treatment, training and supervision. Do not automatically return them to prison.
29.4.3.8 Establish civilian oversight boards comprised of community leaders, prison reform advocates and penal specialists to ensure prison management and staff do not violate the civil rights of prisoners and that prisoners re-entering the community are prepared to do so and are provided with the kinds of support needed to successfully re-integrate, such as job training, job prospects, housing and drug treatment. Prisons exist in communities and are not separate from them.
29.4.4 Treat the Accused, Defendants, Incarcerated and Civilly Committed Humanely.
The legal definition of “humane”: Kind, tender, compassionate. Disposed to eliminate the cause of suffering of man or beast. Humane differs from the ordinary use of “merciful,” in that it expresses active endeavors to find and relieve suffering, and especially to prevent it
29.4.4.1 Create a humane, rehabilitative criminal justice and prison system with
individual, rehabilitation and reentry plans that emphasize rehabilitation and
restorative justice and upholding the civil rights of prisoners while protecting
the larger society from those who are not yet rehabilitated
29.4.4.2 “Never house juvenile offenders with adults. House violent and non-violent
juvenile offenders separately. Continue the education of juveniles while in
custody. Substantially decrease the number of juvenile's assigned to each
judge and caseworker to oversee each juvenile's placement and progress in
the juvenile justice system.
”
29.4.4.3 Encourage and give incarcerated, individuals responsibilities and every opportunity possible to made decision and utilize their talents at meaningful work. These opportunities may be in the form of facility operation and maintenance, tutoring, mentoring and helping one another with rehabilitation and reentry plans, or providing public services. Where it is possible for an individual to gain certification in an area of expertise that shall be encouraged. Those who are incarcerated shall receive adequate compensation for the work they perform and be paid a minimum wage up to a living wage with a portion going to child support, victim restitution, fines, fees and savings for use upon reentry into society. To the degree possible, community service programs shall be available for interested persons.
29.4.4.4 Programs, policies, and tools shall ensure that individuals are able to inexpensively maintain their social networks through fair and friendly telephone, surface mail, email, Skype and visitation services including private family visits. Restrictions shall be imposed only if needed to protect specific victim(s). Family members shall be able to visit any and all incarcerated family members. Subject to security screening, there shall be no limit to the number of persons on a visiting list or call list. At the very least, persons who are indigent shall be provided with postage and writing materials to facilitate contact by surface mail and at least one call per week to family or friends.
29.4.4.5 Every effort shall be made to compensate for lack of education that may have contributed to a person's criminal behavior. GED classes shall be standard and provided free by the state to all prisoners without a diploma or GED. Aptitude testing and vocational training shall be provided to ensure job readiness upon release.
29.4.4.6 Provide access to earned benefits (e.g. retiree health insurance, veterans health care, veteran's educational benefits, etc.) in cases where the department of corrections cannot or will not provide comparable services.
29.4.4.7 Individuals who are incarcerated shall be able to access Pell grants and other similar aid programs to facilitate their pursuit of a college education.
29.4.4.8 Provide:
29.4.4.8.1 Detention in a facility as close to family members and friends as possible, which helps with reentry into society. Prohibit individuals being held over a hundred miles away from families and friends closer if possible
29.4.4.8.2 Liberal visitation arrangements
29.4.4.8.3 Employment opportunities
29.4.4.8.4 Exercise facilities and equipment
29.4.4.8.5 Adequate natural and artificial sunlight
29.4.4.8.6 Nutritious food that meet prisoners' dietary requirements
29.4.4.8.7 Timely and competent free health care and prescribed drugs
29.4.4.8.8 Books
29.4.4.8.9 Drug treatment
29.4.4.8.10 Job training
29.4.4.8.11 Exercise
29.4.4.8.12 Personal safety during incarceration.
This all would help greatly with the ability to re-enter society as a law abiding person.
29.4.4.9 Eliminate/Cease
29.4.4.9.1 Abuse and torture. United States ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) and set up mechanisms that will prevent abuse and torture in the country's confinement facilities.
29.4.4.9.2 Retributive punishment
29.4.4.9.3 Housing juveniles in adult facilities
29.4.4.9.4 Loss of voting rights as a result of a criminal conviction
29.4.4.9.5 Physical or psychological abuse of any kind
29.4.4.9.6 Bullying, threatening and confrontations.
29.4.4.9.7 Solitary confinement (defined as torture by the UN Commission on Human Rights)
29.4.4.9.8 Held in isolation for a nonviolent infraction.
29.4.4.9.9 Held in isolation for a total of more than four hours for a violent infraction
29.4.4.9.10 Overcrowding, since that contributes to inhumane treatment.
29.4.4.9.11 Group punishment
29.4.4.9.12 Prolonged lock-downs
29.4.4.9.13 The use of abusive prisoner extraction techniques
29.4.4.9.14 The use and tolerance of rape and sexual coercion.
29.4.4.9.15 The use of shackles, restraints, or demeaning jail "uniforms" should be minimized and should not be used when the defendant appears in court
29.4.4.9.16 Withholding of medical treatment and food as punishment. In particular, confinement on bread and water/reduced rations as a punishment should be removed from the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
29.4.4.9.17 The use of military tribunals for other than U. S. Military personnel.
29.4.4.9.18 Those incarcerated having administrative, disciplinary or supervisory power over others who are incarcerated.
29.4.4.10 Establish and enforce prison policies that discourage and prohibit racism, sexism, homophobia and rape.
29.4.4.11 Set aside the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) which makes it much harder for prisoners to file lawsuits in federal court and violates prisoners right to equal protection under the law.
29.4.5 Ensure Just Investigations and Adjudication
29.4.5.1 Prevent crimes and keep ongoing crimes from getting worse. Anyone having knowledge of the planning of a crime should take appropriate actions to prevent it.
29.4.5.2 Cease warrant less searches, arrests, spying on and infiltrations of families and groups and entrapment actions.
29.4.5.3 In lieu of incarceration:
29.4.5.3.1 “Encourage and support positive approaches that build hope, responsibility
and a sense of belonging. Detention under supervision should be the
sentence of last resort, reserved for violent criminals. Those convicted of
non-violent offenses should be handled by mentoring, alternative,
community-based programs including, work, community service, electronic
monitoring only if necessary, restitution, and rehabilitation programs
29.4.5.3.2 Provide opportunities for individuals who have committed crimes to apologize and pay appropriate restitution to their victims, the victims’ family members and communities and make an Alford plea without admitting guilt.
29.4.5.3.3 Forfeit all gains in particular from economic crimes
29.4.5.3.4 Pay fines and fees based upon ability to pay.
29.4.5.4 Allow individuals who are contrite and pay restitution to Ensure plea agreement are only done with an engaged and competent attorney in a manner that does not result in harm to any other defendant and involves the judge.
29.4.5.5 Ensure anyone tried and convicted who refused to negotiate a plea agreement is not sentenced to a longer term than was offered in negotiations.
29.4.5.6 Ensure deprivation of an individual's liberty shall be decided based upon the beyond a reasonable doubt standard of all of the elements of the action.
29.4.5.7 Ensure voting rights are not lost as a result of a criminal convictions.
29.4.5.8 Ensure evidence of someone's innocence, is considered regardless of when that evidence becomes available and whether or not the court process or representation was flawed.
29.4.6 Eliminate Sentencing and Keep Individuals Who Are a Threat to Others Under Appropriate Supervision and Care and Keep Them Busy Working Until they Can Safely be Released
29.4.6.1 Vacate All Sentencing Laws as null and void
29.4.6.2 Prohibit sentencing anyone to a prison term
29.4.6.3 Limit time for detention for offense to only long enough to complete an appropriate, evaluation ad well-defined, treatment and training program
29.4.6.4 Do not give significant weight to prior criminal history over the current evaluation
29.4.6.5 The cost of the sentence shall be identified at the time of sentencing.
29.4.7 Provide opportunities for the accused, defendants, incarcerated and civilly committed to apologize, pay appropriate restitution and reconcile with their victims, the victims family member and communities during every phase of the criminal justice process. These opportunities should commence as soon as practicable after a crime is committed, an arrest or summons is made and before a grand jury is impaneled if possible.
This could allow a truly contrite perpetrator who is not a threat to others or himself to make amends, apologize and pay restitution to his/her victim and make an Alford’s Plea (a plea of guilty that may be accepted by a court, normally as part of a plea bargain when the defendant does not admit guilt). In this way, the need for lengthy indictments and trials could be reduced. Hence the victim and perpetrator could get on with their lives sooner and decrease the size and cost of the prison population.
29.4.8 Phase out all privately owned and ultimately all prisons. A recent ACLU report on the private prison industry, "Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration," is available online at: http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/banking-bondage-private-prisons-and-mass-incarceration.
29.4.9 Phase out all "Special Housing Units," "Communications Management Units”, "Supermax" Prisons and “ICE Detention Facilities”. Many injustices occur in these types of facilities.
29.4.10 Repudiate Any Notion of Immunity or Impunity of Senior Private and Public Sector Officials
29.4.10.1 Set aside or eliminate any laws, regulations or practices that grant immunity to any public servant who violates civil rights of anyone or commits any crime.
29.4.11 Prohibit the Use of “State Secrets” or Executive Privilege in Criminal or Civil Cases.
29.4.12 Educate and Train All Prosecutors, Judges, Prison Officials and Guards in All Aspects of the above. Those in disagreement with this humane approach should be reassigned to different work.
29.4.13 Humanely and privately investigate, negotiate and/or prosecute public and private sector officials who directly or indirectly violate the rights of anyone, including those incarcerated or civilly-committed to prison in particular those who:
29.4.13.1 Indefinitely detain, torture, utilize extraordinary renditions, or fail to ensure fair trails;
29.4.13.2 Violate personal privacy, or security, or punish dissent;
29.4.13.3 Profile or discriminate against anyone, race, or group;
29.4.13.4 Implement excessive government security, or limit government oversight;
29.4.13.5 Promote national-security or counterterrorism policies that fail to respect human rights, civil liberties, or the rule-of-law;
29.4.13.6 Assists, aids or abets, votes to provide funds for, or conspires with others to violate rights;
29.4.13.7 Conduct warrant-less arrests;
29.4.13.8 Promote prison agendas based on ideology, not science or fact;
29.4.13.9 Create and disseminate faulty prison legislation.
29.4.14 Congress Provide the Funding to Support These Actions. Ample funding sources are outlined in Funding Sources
29.4.15 Many organization and individuals have worked on this for years and collectively know what needs to be done. For example, Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), has outlined just about everything that needs to be done on their web site at http://curenational.org, ACLU has a National Prison Project. There are scores of Restorative Justice programs. These interested organizations and individuals are requested to work together, form a working group for this plan, and add everything that they know that needs to be done to it. Recommendations can be made and items added by emailing Fisher@wethepeoplenow.org or faxing to 703-521-0849.
29.4.16 To end the spread of COVID-19, Congress as rapidly as possible:
29.4.16.1 Implement nationwide universal federal regulations including for example, a strict mask mandate, temperature checks, mobile hand washing stations, social distancing rules, etc.
29.4.16.2 Make necessary accommodations in jails, prisons, hospitals and public buildings.
29.4.16.3 Conduct questioning of detainees, arraignments, trials, hearings, etc. virtually.
29.5 Background on U.S. Criminal Justice and Prisons:
29.5.1 The Proposed National Criminal Justice Commission Act
29.5.1.1 Senator Jim Webb introduced proposed legislation for the National Criminal Justice Commission Act on March 26, 2009 and reintroduced it in 2010 and 2011. The original bill included:
• America's criminal justice system ... is a national disgrace.
• Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness.
• Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation's prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous.
• We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives.
• We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the long-term consequences of incarceration.
29.5.2 Senator Jim Webb provided the following additional information about his proposed National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009
29.5.2.1 On February 8, 2011, I reintroduced the National Criminal Justice Commission Act (S. 306), which will create a blue-ribbon commission to look at every aspect of our criminal justice system with an eye toward reshaping the criminal justice system from top to bottom. I believe that it is time to bring together the best minds in America to analyze the criminal justice system in its entirety, to examine its interlocking parts, to learn what works and what does not, and make recommendations for reform.
29.5.2.2 Why We Urgently Need this Legislation [Reform]:
• With 5% of the world's population, our country now houses 25% of the world's reported prisoners.
• The number of incarcerated drug offenders has soared 1200% since 1980.
• Four times as many mentally ill people are in prisons than in mental health hospitals.
• Approximately 1 million gang members reside in the U.S.
• Post-incarceration re-entry programs are haphazard and often nonexistent, undermining public safety and making it extremely difficult for ex-offenders to become full, contributing members of society.
29.5.2.3 Irregularities and inequities in America’s criminal justice system challenge
our notions of fundamental fairness. Even with historically large numbers of
people in prisons and jails, the percentage of Americans who believe crime
is worse than the previous year has steadily increased over the last decade,
rising to 74 percent last year. Americans depend on the criminal justice
system to maintain our safety and security. Our nation’s citizens expect it to
be reliable and fair, in addition to being effective at deterring crime and
punishing offenders. Enacting the National Criminal Justice Commission Act
will take the long-overdue step of undertaking a comprehensive review of the
criminal justice system, producing 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 at every step of the criminal justice system
.
29.5.3 Despite its urgency, on October 20, 2011, passage of Senator Webb's National Criminal Justice Commission Act was blocked in the Senate by 43 Senators who threatened to filibuster and voted against closure. Senator Web left the Senate, at the end of December 2012.
29.5.4 Even if the National Criminal Justice Commission Act had been enacted, it would have been months before the Commission was formed, eighteen months before the commission made any recommendations and many more months, probably years if ever, before the recommendations were acted upon. The severe problems in criminal justice and prisons cannot wait.
29.5.5 Different justice for senior public and private sector officials and the rich the middle class and poor.
Senator Webb’s words about irregularities and inequities and the need for a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison are extremely important
Our criminal justice system has failed to hold senior public and private sector officials accountable despite the numerous official reports, books, articles which describe the illegal, immoral, wasteful U.S. wars, assassinations, drone attacks, torture and abuse of detainees and devastating financial crimes.
White-collar criminals have damaged many more Americans and government institutions than drug dealers or violent criminals - yet they act with impunity and are seldom punished financially or incarcerated.
Michael Haas, in his book George W. Bush, War Criminal? alleges that members of the G. W. Bush administration committed 269 war crimes, which are described on Haas' website www.USWarCrimes.com. Haas' newer book, America's War Crimes Quagmire From Bush to Obama, provides descriptions of alleged war crimes by the Obama administration. Not one high level official has been indicted for any of these crimes.
Human Rights USA and American University Washington College of Law International Human Rights Law Clinic recently released a report, Indefensible: A Reference for Prosecuting Torture and Other Felonies.
http://www.prosecuteofficials.org/indefensible_a_reference_for_prosecuting_torture.pdf
This report serves as a practitioner’s reference addressing the domestic and
international laws implicated by the actions of certain former high-ranking
government officials. The report lays the groundwork for litigation against those
responsible for approving and using illegal interrogation techniques that was the
official policy of the Bush Administration
. Not one torture survivor has succeeded in
holding high ranking government officials accountable in a U.S. court for torture and
... and the government has been to date .
Our public servants have not provided any meaningful responses to numerous petitions, letters, and requests for investigations, hearings, impeachments and special prosecutors to investigate and prosecute these crimes.
After ten years of these illegalities and despite numerous petitions, phone calls, demonstrations and now “occupations”, not one high-ranking official that authorized and planned these illegal acts has been indicted.
Yet during these ten years thousands have been imprisoned for possession of a few ounces of marijuana.
29.5.6 Statement on prison reform. The following is paraphrased from the work of Maria Allwine, a long-time community organizer and peace and justice activist and an organizer for the October 2011 End The Machine Occupation:
The Problem:
Prisons in the United States have never been places where prisoners had much of a chance to rehabilitate themselves. Those who did return to society as fully functioning members did so in spite of the harsh and inhumane conditions found there. Since the 1970s and the start of the failed “war on drugs,” the prison population in the U.S. has increased 400%. Almost two-thirds of those arrested were simple drug users, most of them African American or Hispanic. After 9/11 the rate of incarceration for Muslims in the US has increased significantly, indicating the widespread use of racial profiling for political purposes. According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, while Muslims account for six percent of the inmate population in federal prisons as a whole, in the nefarious Communications Management Units somewhere between 65 and 72 percent of the population is Muslim, indicative of an increase in the number of political prisoners. The US has 5% of the world’s population and 25% of its prisoners, figures surpassing those of any other country, including China and Iran.
Over the past 30 years prisons have become profit centers for large corporations like Corrections Corporation of America and Geo Group, as federal, state and local jurisdictions have privatized their prisons. Studies have shown that privately run prisons cost more than government run prisons. Private prisons have allowed jurisdictions to relinquish responsibility for the treatment of prisoners while falsely claiming cost savings. As a result, prisons are a growth industry, with the number of prisoners in private corrections facilities increasing by 33% at the state level and 120% at the federal level. Correction Corporations of America and GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut), made a combined $2.9 billion in revenue in 2010. According to the Justice Policy Institute, “as revenues of private prison companies have grown over the past decade, the companies have had more resources with which to build political power, and they have used this power to promote policies that lead to higher rates of incarceration.” This has led to the widespread torture and abuse of prisoners, including withholding medical care, at all levels of incarceration in the US, capped by the alarming use of “Special Housing Units,” “Communications Management Units” and “Supermax” prisons where prisoners are held in solitary confinement for years, with no access to family or lawyers. Prisoners are slowly driven insane and as much as murdered over a span of years within the US criminal "justice" system. [Emphasis added.]
The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons (CSAAP), which is headed by a former U.S. Attorney General and a former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, found: “People who pose no real threat to anyone and also those who are mentally ill are languishing for months or years in high-security units.” The commission also stated,
“In some places, the environment is so severe that people end up completely isolated, confined in constantly bright or constantly dim spaces without any meaningful contact – torturous condition that are proven to cause mental deterioration.”
The US demands other countries uphold “human rights” while it tortures, abuses and kills its own in prisons akin to those in the countries with the worst human rights violation records.
The American Bail Coalition, which is the for-profit bail bond industry’s national organization and lobbying wing, and Corrections Corporation of America, the US’s largest private prison operator, are both members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a shadowy, extremely powerful lobby group that creates and distributes model legislation throughout state legislatures. This is a significant reason for the growth of the private prison industry. Since the late 1980s and 1990s, ALEC has created model bills that lengthen sentences, which have dramatically increased incarceration rates, and bills that privatize prisons, putting more of those inmates under the control of for-profit corporations.
29.5.7 Additional problems with criminal justice and prisons:
29.5.7.1 Many Investigators, prosecutors and judges at every level.
29.5.7.1.1 Routinely violate the rights of defendants. They conduct searches, infiltrate families and groups and wiretap without warrants. They issue warrants without probable cause and entrap individuals with paid informants who unconstitutionally infiltrate families and small businesses and talk individuals into committing crimes.
29.5.7.1.2 Use practices that are unscientific and directly in conflict with modern psychology by threatening, humiliating and challenging defendants.
29.5.7.1.3 Provide few opportunities for individuals accused of crimes and prisoners to pay restitution, apologize and reconcile with their victims
29.5.7.2 At least 36,000 people in the U.S. criminal justice system are currently held in solitary confinement, with little or no human contact, usually in a windowless cell for 23 hours per day, being allowed to exercise only alone for an hour. Inmates in solitary confinement often experience paranoia, delusions, and long-term damaging mental effects.
29.5.7.3 Edna Harden, Chair, Missouri Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), in a March 12, 2012, article, “A Second Chance For Inmate,” states:
We have too many people in prison for too many years, with too little hope. For parolees, there are too few jobs on the outside, and reentry is to the same sad streets full of poverty, racism and drugs.
In a recent public forum, Department of Corrections Director George Lombardi said that he has seen Missouri prisons become a de facto mental health system. Thousands of mentally ill people who had no help or treatment on the outside make prisons often seem like madhouses.
There's a big attitude problem in society. Besides the "us vs. them" of the haves vs. the have-nots, there's the attitude of those on the outside vs. those inside. Crime itself is viewed with skewed lenses. By far, the most expensive crimes are committed by white-collar criminals, especially the high rollers. Yet these high-class criminals rarely go to prison. If they do, it's for shorter periods and in less restrictive venues.
For the underclass, powerlessness often leads to crime. Being born into poverty, with poor education, with no expectation of living the "American dream," witnessing violence from a young age, too many precious young lives are lost. Children who grow up victims of drugs, gangs and violence too often spend their lives in cages isolated from society. The loss is tragic for these young people and their families. The loss to society is devastating. Instead of bright creative minds contributing to the progress of our communities and our world, we pay big bucks to build more cages and pay more people to guard those inside.
Extremely long sentences are unproductive. Those that require 85 percent of the time be served before eligibility for parole provide no incentive for prisoners to strive for improvement until they get close to that 85 percent mark.
There is a desperate need for reform.
• The longer the sentence, the higher the recidivism rate.
• The constitutional rights of so called “undocumented aliens” are violated routinely by racial profiling and arrest and detention without warrants.
Many organization and individuals have worked on this for years and collectively know what needs to be done. For example, Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), has outlined just about everything that needs to be done on their web site at http://curenational.org, ACLU has a National Prison Project. There are scores of Restorative Justice programs
These interested organizations and individuals are requested to work together, form an oversight board for this plan, and add everything that they know that needs to be done to it. Recommendations can be made and items added by emailing Fisher@wethepeoplenow.org or faxing to 703-521-0849.
29.6 Examples of Successful "Restorative Justice" Programs
29.6.1.1 The Community Conferencing Center of Baltimore, which boasts a 95% compliance rating once a consensual agreement is reached (agreements are reached 98% of the time), http://www.communityconferencing.org Meetings among perpetrators, victims and members of the community that was damaged by the crime are called conferencing.
29.6.1.2 The Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County: http://www.crcmc.org which also does community conferencing, as well as mediation and more general facilitation. (Thanks to the Criminal Justice Issue Group at the DC Freedom Plaza, End the Machine Occupation for the above examples and for providing the link to Professor Zehr's Blog).
29.7.1.1 America's criminal justice system practices are unscientific and directly in conflict with modern psychology according to Clarence Darrow.
29.7.1.2 Human beings are not remarkably different from one another. In general criminals fail in their approach to life, in that they have not learned to be empathetic and cooperate with and help care for their fellow human beings. They only differ from the average person in the severity of their failure to learn these things, according to Alfred Adler.
29.7.1.3 “Society must get over the concept that ‘violent criminals’ must be banished
from society forever. If you stole something as a child, does that forever label
you a thief? Violence is something that happens, not a state of mind. If
someone gets in a fight, does that mean s/he is forever a violent person? A
person convicted of a violent crime is still a person, one who is serving time
as punishment for that act. Decades later s/he is a different person, not a
‘violent criminal’ because of what happened in his/her youth. The parole
board needs to start using its intelligence to do its job rather than kowtowing
to this phony societal labeling
.
29.7.1.4 Cooperation and caring for others should and can be taught to criminals and all others and in particular to very young children. To fully develop cooperation and caring, this training must be exercised and practiced.
29.7.1.5 Human behavior is a product of the environment. It is the environment that really creates our values and behavior. The wealth divide and great extremes of poverty and luxury offends those who are badly off and incites them to envy. Our society, institutions and politicians are, in part, indirectly and directly responsible for continuing criminality. Everyone should have employment opportunities at living wages. No one should ever feel that they cannot cope with the problems of life. Our governments must eliminate poverty and the increasing property divide. Politicians who claim to be tough on crime and swear by the death penalty must not be elected or reelected. Studies clearly show that the death penalty does not reduce murders.
29.7.1.6 Retributive justice, punishment, threatening, humiliating and challenging criminals, children or anyone for that matter does not work and counterproductive to rehabilitation. These approaches should be replaced with encourage productive work training, where the individual learns how to cooperate and work and learn with others.
29.7.1.7 Individuals accused of crimes and prisoners in the U.S. are, in general, not being treated humanely and have few opportunities to pay restitution, apologize to and reconcile with their victims
29.7.1.8 Crimes should not be given publicity. The names of the individuals and the documentation being prepared for prosecutions should be kept private (not secret) and not revealed or “leaked” to the public until after official indictments are made.
29.7.1.9 By perpetrators being able to make amends, apologize, pay restitution and make an Alford’s Plea, the need for lengthy indictments and trials could be reduced and the perpetrator and the victim could get on with their lives sooner.
29.7.1.10 Humane, discreet, restorative and reconciliation approaches to criminal justice should be used, because this:
29.7.1.10.1 Is the right and moral thing to do
29.7.1.10.2 Will not in any way detract from the severity of crimes committed, excuse or exonerate anyone who has committed a serious crime.
29.7.1.10.3 Will help identify those individuals who are a threat to society or themselves and must be kept under supervision. and better protect the public from criminal behavior than current criminal justice programs do.
29.7.1.10.4 Can be utilized to reduce the huge number of people the US has in its prisons.
29.7.1.10.5 Will greatly improve America’s criminal justice system
29.7.1.10.6 Will save the taxpayers many millions of dollar, by decreasing crime and incarceration.
29.7.1.11 We have the knowledge, means and initiative to devise an entirely new
social architecture that can create a world we actually enjoy and flourish in.
29.7.1.12 The following conclusions are from CURE's Expectations for a Justice
System
29.7.1.12.1 No one deserves to be measured only by the worst thing she or he has ever done.
29.7.1.12.2 Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and have his or her human rights preserved.
29.7.1.12.3 Justice systems should be restorative rather than retributive.
29.7.1.12.4 There is no way to create a perfectly safe world. Expecting that of our justice systems leads to policies that are counterproductive.
29.7.1.12.5 Detention must be justified by a legitimate public safety concern.
29.7.1.12.6 Those who should have all of the resources they need to turn their lives around.
29.7.1.12.7 No one should be incarcerated for his or her immigration status.
29.7.1.12.8 National and international human rights documents provide a sound basis for ensuring that justice systems meet these goals.
29.7.1.12.9 The politics of fear should not be allowed to influence sentencing practices or parole policies.
29.7.1.12.10 All efforts should be made to de-politicize justice system offices.
29.7.1.12.11 Drug use should be decriminalized and treated as a public health issue.
29.7.1.12.12 All juvenile cases should be handled in the juvenile system that is geared toward rehabilitation and education rather than incarceration.
and qualified to determine and take heed of this behavior.
Credit for at least a third of the Section X Actions to reform criminal justice goes to Ms. Kay Perry, who led the efforts and Charles Sullivan, Charles and others at Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE) who compiled and edited “CURE's Expectations for a Justice system” which is posted at http://www.curenational.org.
Several of these actions are from the 2012 Green Party Platform, Section II. H., Adopted July 2012, Baltimore, Maryland, http://www.gp.org/committees/platform/2012/social-justice.php
Credit for outlining and describing other key items goes to several others. However, since different individuals have suggested the same items and I have been very working on the other 32 plans and lists actions I have not been able to keep up with who suggested what. Thanks to all.
Sincerely,
Ron Fisher
Captain US Navy (retired)
Compiler
www.PeopleNow.org
PO Box 1310, Falls Church VA 22041
703-725-7849 Fax: 703-521-0849
Fisher@peoplenow.org
Endnotes