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Ending Excessive Punishment for Violent Crimes

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THE NEXT STEP ENDING EXCESSIVE PUNISHMENT FOR VIOLENT CRIMES For more information, contact: This report was written by Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Ph.D., Senior Research Analyst at The Sentencing Project. Joshua Rovner, Senior Advocacy The Sentencing Project Associate, and Breanna Bishop, Communications Associate, made 1705 DeSales Street NW substantial contributions. 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20036 The Sentencing Project is a national non-profit organization engaged in research and advocacy on criminal justice issues. Our work is (202) 628-0871 supported by many individual donors and contributions from the following: sentencingproject.org twitter.com/sentencingproj Bainbridge Community Foundation facebook.com/thesentencingproject Benevity Community Impact Fund instagram.com/endlifeimprisonment Benjamin Fund Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation craigslist Charitable Fund Educational Foundation of America Elsie P van Buren Foundation Ford Foundation Foundation Beyond Belief General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church Gerbic Family Foundation Bernard F. and Alva B. Gimbel Foundation JK Irwin Foundation Jewish Communal Services Joseph and Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds Mott Philanthropy Naduse Foundation Open Society Foundations Frank and Janina Petschek Foundation, Inc. Polis Schutz Family Foundation Public Welfare Foundation Elizabeth B. and Arthur E. Roswell Foundation Sagalyn Family Fund Solidarity Giving Tikva Grassroots Empowerment Fund of Tides Foundation Robert Trees Trust Wallace Global Fund Copyright © 2019 by The Sentencing Project. Reproduction of this document in full or in part, and in print or electronic format, only by permission of The Sentencing Project. 2 The Sentencing Project TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 5 I. Introduction 8 II. Rejecting Death and Torture 10 A. The Nationwide Decline of the Death Penalty 10 B. Colorado Limits Solitary Confinement to 15 Days 11 III. Legislative Reforms Reducing Excessive Sentences 14 A. Louisiana Ends Non-Unanimous Jury Verdicts and Begins Medical Furlough Program 14 B. Mississippi Reduces Truth-in-Sentencing Requirement for Violent Crimes 15 IV. Using Discretion to Reduce Extreme Sentences 17 A. California Governor Eases Life Sentences through Parole and Commutation 17 B. Philadelphia District Attorney Reduces Reliance on Life Sentences 20 V. Recognizing the Rehabilitative Potential of Youth and Young Adults 24 A. Supreme Court and States Limit Life-Without-Parole Sentences for Youth 24 B. States Reduce Transfers of Youth to Adult Courts 25 C. Connecticut Creates Young Adult Prison Units to Focus on Rehabilitation 27 D. California Grants Youth and Young Adults More Meaningful Parole Hearings 28 VI. Depoliticizing Parole Decisions: New York State 30 VII. Correcting Overly Broad Definitions of Violent Crime 33 A. Supreme Court Narrows the Federal Armed Career Criminal Act 33 B. California Limits Scope of Felony Murder Rule 34 VIII. Scaling Back Collateral Consequences 36 A. Congress Largely Upholds Food Stamps Access for People with Violent Convictions 36 B. Virginia Governor’s Restoration of Voting Rights Includes Violent Convictions 37 IX. Conclusion 39 The Next Step: Ending Excessive Punishment for Violent Crimes 3 4 The Sentencing Project EXECUTIVE SUMMARY While the First Step Act and other criminal justice reforms have limited the number of people imprisoned for drug crimes, they have yet to meaningfully reduce excessive penalties for violent crimes. Nearly half of the U.S. prison population is now serving time for a violent offense, including assault and robbery.1 Although the violent crime rate has plummeted to half individuals convicted as juveniles, shown restraint of its early-1990s level, the number of people imprisoned in charging decisions and plea offers in homicide for a violent offense grew until 2009, and has since cases, and endorsed legislation to allow people declined by just 3%.2 This trend stems from increased serving LWOP to be evaluated for parole after 15 prison admissions and sentence lengths, despite years of incarceration.7 evidence that excessive penalties are counterproductive.3 Long sentences incapacitate older people who pose Legislators reducing excessive sentences little public safety threat, produce limited deterrent Mississippi legislators reformed the state’s truth-in- effect since most people do not expect to be caught, sentencing requirement for violent crimes in 2014, and detract from more effective investments in public reducing the proportion of a sentence that individuals safety.4 with certain violent convictions have to serve before For those who seek to end mass incarceration, there are becoming eligible for parole from 85% to 50%. signs of hope. In the past two decades, local, state, and Recognizing the rehabilitative potential of youth and federal lawmakers, governors, judges, and practitioners young adults have rejected the death penalty, shortened excessive prison terms for violent convictions, scaled back In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that LWOP collateral consequences, narrowed broad definitions of sentences were unconstitutional for non-homicide violence, and ended long term solitary confinement. The crimes committed by juveniles. The Court also later 15 reforms featured in this report, implemented in over ruled that mandatory LWOP sentences for homicide 19 states, represent more effective, fiscally sound, and failed to recognize young people’s “diminished morally just responses to violence.5 While exceptions in culpability and greater prospects for reform.”8 In a punitive era, these reforms serve as models for the 2018, California built on this precedent by directing future. For example: individuals convicted under age 26 to “Youth Offender Parole Hearings.”9 Rejecting torture in prison Scaling back collateral consequences In 2017, Colorado Department of Corrections’ executive director Rick Raemisch restricted solitary Floridians voted in 2018 to re-enfranchise people confinement to only serious violations in prisons with felony convictions, including those convicted and set a maximum duration of 15 days. of most violent crimes. Using discretion to reduce extreme sentences The reforms identified in this report demonstrate that it is possible to undo excessive penalties for violent crimes Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner seeks while also promoting public safety. They are the next to end the city’s heavy reliance on life without parole step of criminal justice reform and offer blueprints for (LWOP) sentences.6 He has made case-by-case policies that will better enable an end to mass evaluations when making resentencing offers to incarceration within our lifetime. The Next Step: Ending Excessive Punishment for Violent Crimes 5 Table 1. Featured Reforms Scaling Back Excessive Punishment for Violent Crimes, 1999-2019 Arkansas • Governor commuted a number of sentences for violent crimes California • Governor commuted a number of life sentences and supported broader reforms • Legislature required that people serving life sentences for crimes committed under age 26 receive specialized parole hearings giving greater weight to the diminished culpability of youth and young adults • Legislature limited felony murder rule to those with intent to kill or who participated in the killing Colorado • Head of corrections limited use of solitary confinement to 15 days and only for serious disciplinary violations in prison • Governor commuted sentences of 12 individuals who were convicted of murder at young age Connecticut • Governor and corrections department developed a more rehabilitative venue of incarceration for group of 18-to-25 year olds Florida • Voters approved Amendment 4, re-enfranchising up to 1.4 million citizens who have completed all terms of their sentence, excluding only those convicted of murder or sex crimes Illinois • Legislature raised the minimum age for transferring juveniles to adult courts from 15 to 16 (allowing transfers of 15-year-olds with a hearing) Iowa • State Supreme Court ruled that all mandatory sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional Louisiana • Bipartisan legislative support and voter approval ended non-unanimous jury verdicts • Legislature enacted medical treatment furlough program Maine • Halved prison population held in solitary confinement Maryland • Court decision led to release of nearly 200 elderly people serving parole-eligible life sentences Mississippi • Legislature reduced from 85% to 50% the proportion of a sentence that individuals with certain violent convictions have to serve before becoming eligible for parole New York • Brooklyn and Bronx prosecutors allowing certain cases of serious and violent felonies to be diverted from incarceration to restorative justice program • Governor’s executive order reinstated voting rights to 35,000 people on parole supervision • Courts and governor have pressured the parole board to follow the legislature’s requirement that it give greater weight to risk assessments in parole decisions, rather than focusing on original crime and criminal history Pennsylvania • Philadelphia District Attorney (DA) has offered below-guideline resentencing to people sentenced to life without parole as juveniles • Philadelphia DA has encouraged his staff to select the appropriate, rather than maximum, charge in all homicide cases, and requires them to receive approval for any plea offer proposing a long prison term • Philadelphia DA has endorsed bill that would allow people serving LWOP to be evaluated for parole after 15
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