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Issues in Criminal Justice (JF)
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By Kathryn Wiley|Published Date: November 20, 2009 Implementing "smart justice" can help ease the criminal case load on prosecutors and keep society safe, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins recently told a federal sentencing commission at a hearing in Austin, Texas.
Watkins, who is known for working to free wrongly convicted inmates, is a proponent of programs for youthful first-time offenders that allow them to work toward getting charges dismissed or “fast tracking” repeat low-level offenders into state jails.
During his nearly three years in office, Watkins has worked to implement such "smart justice," according to an Associated Press article.
"At the end of the day the goal is public safety," Watkins said, adding that it's also a smart use of taxpayer money to attempt to ensure that imprisoned inmates don't repeat their crimes when they get out of jail. "The goal is rehabilitation, as opposed to just punishment."
One commission member referred often to the "Texas success story," or how the state has moved to more community-based corrections programs over the past two years.
Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety Performance Project at the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Center on the States, said Texas is a law-and-order and fiscally conservative state that is using methods besides imprisonment in sentencing convicts. Parts of Texas have a "very robust system of community corrections and alternatives," Gelb said.
The commission heard from several Texas experts. Three federal judges also addressed the panel. Judge Robin Cauthron of Oklahoma said she is glad judges now have more discretion in varying from federal sentencing guidelines.
For more information on how important reforms are to the U.S. criminal justice system, visit Justice Fellowship’s Sentencing Reform resource page. |
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