New Budget Shows that Administration is Serious About
Criminal Justice Reform
by Derek Gilna
"Show
me the Money," is certainly one of the most iconic movie quotations in
recent memory, and it accurately sums up criminal justice lawyers and
advocates sometimes cautious view of the
impact of the First Step Act (FSA). We agree that it is hard to get excited
about these FSA changes, when every day you have to endure the daily
indignities from the under-trained-and-under-paid DOJ employees, some of whom
feel that they are above the law. The new DOJ budget shows, however, that the
Administration is fully funding these reforms.
Many months
after closing some halfway houses, cutting current prison staffs, and freezing
hiring new workers, the President has begun to bypass the entrenched prison
bureaucracy. $244 million is now going
to Residential Reentry
Center NEW
staff to work on FSA programs (only). Other staffing cuts remain.
Speaking of
money (saved), there is a strong push for the Senate to take up HR 4018, that
would allow elderly prisoners to transition to home confinement for the
remainder of their sentence, saving millions. This bill had strong support in
the House, passing by a voice vote (highly unusual these days), meaning NO ONE
in the 435-member House objected to its passage. It awaits Senate action, when
that chamber recovers from the delays caused by the impeachment proceedings.
Meanwhile,
the President has also been aggressively courting African-American and Latino
voters with advertising and programs, and hinting at additional clemencies and
pardons in private meetings with supporters, knowing that gaining even minor
additional votes in November will propel him to reelection.
In the
circuits, in US v Keleta, 18-2896, ( 8th Cir. 2-6-20) the court reversed and
remanded a conviction on the sole grounds of eliminating a four-level role
enhancement, finding that "the government failed to carry its burden of
proving that (it) applied," and by
failing to "identify any potential participants...at trial."
In US 2-12-20 ,
the court vacated a career offender designation and remanded for resentencing.
His defense lawyer had failed to object to that designation at sentencing, but
the appeals court determined that his prior Texas
Have a good week,. Let not your heart be
troubled.
Federal Legal Center, Inc., Derek A Gilna, JD, Director
(Also in Indiana dgilna1948@yahoo.com
