Could you take a minute to call or email your state representative and ask them to support H.4011, the criminal justice reform bill?
Do you want to help strengthen the bill? Are you curious about this process and want a little bit of civics education? If so, keep reading.
For context — Proposed amendments must be filed by Nov. 9, and will be voted on early next week, right before the bill itself. The more legislators co-sponsor an amendment before it is filed, the politically stronger it is. They can co-sponsor after tomorrow too, but the political impact is smaller. The Senate bill of An Act to Reform Criminal Justice had 162 proposed amendments, so I suspect plenty of amendments will be filed for the House bill too.
The dilemma — People who want real criminal justice reform face a balancing act.
On the one hand, we want the House bill to be as strong as possible. After next week’s vote, the House and Senate bills will go to a conference committee, whose job it is to hash out a bill that both the House and the Senate will be willing to support in a yes/no vote (no amendments allowed). The stronger the House bill, the stronger the final bill is likely to be. If a provision in the House bill is amended to match the language in the Senate bill, that’s one less thing to negotiate over. Note that sometimes the House language is better than the Senate language.
On the other hand, the most important thing is to get a law out of this long process. That means either getting Governor Baker’s support or having enough votes to override a veto. To be veto-proof, a bill needs two-thirds support in both the House and the Senate. If the final bill is so ambitious that it can’t get that level of support, we could really lose.
Legislators are now trying to get a sense of how much support various amendments would have. Would plenty of state reps vote for this amendment? Does it risk undermining support for the bill as a whole? How far to push? How cautious to be? Massachusetts has 160 state representatives, so that’s a lot of people to talk with.
My suggestion — I don’t have perfect answers to these questions, and I don’t think anyone does. I do, however, believe it would be helpful for you to ask your state rep to co-sponsor the following 12 possible amendments that are actively being discussed:
+ Raise the lower age of juvenile jurisdiction to 12 (not just 10);
+ Raise the upper age of juvenile jurisdiction to 19;
+ Raise the felony larceny threshold to $1,500 (the level it would be if it had kept up with inflation);
+ Reduce the criminalization of poverty by further reducing or eliminating fines and fees;
+ Eliminate mandatory minimums for all lower-level drug offenses;
+ Raise the thresholds for trafficking (they are currently what someone with a serious substance abuse issue would use in a few days, so would entrap users);
+ Increase pre-arraignment diversion options for juveniles (since getting a court record can affect someone for the rest of their life);
+ Allow juvenile records to be eligible for expungement after 3 years (H.4011 says 10 years, which is a very long time);
+ Put into statute that juveniles are not to be shackled without a specific reason;
+ Follow the advice of Citizens for Juvenile Justice on what juvenile data is important to collect;
+ Protect children by considering primary caretakers’ parental responsibilities when sentencing; and
+ Track the savings from reduced prison populations and reinvest half of it in job training, job placement, and other support for re-entry.
If this makes sense to you, I suggest you make this a two-step process. First, call your state rep and tell them (or their aide) that you are asking them to vote for H.4011 and co-sponsor some amendments that would strengthen it. Tell them you will email a list of a dozen amendments, so they will have them in writing rather than taking notes on the phone. Then, follow up with the email as soon as you get off the phone. A draft email is below. Feel free to shorten the list.
It’s helpful for state reps to hear from constituents while making political judgment calls. It gives them more information, and it lets them tell other legislators they are getting pressure from their constituents. Most importantly, it lets them know we’re paying attention. They may or may not do exactly what we ask in any particular decision, but they also have knowledge that we don’t. When we work together, better decisions get made.
Now more than ever, I believe, it’s important for citizens to understand and participate in our democratic political process.
— Lori Kenschaft, EMIT Core Member
Blog editor’s note: Here are two more amendments that will insure humane treatment for incarcerated people and save the state money:
* Rep. Balser’s amendments to limit the Department of Corrections’ cruel over-reliance of solitary confinement and to provide data on its use; and
* Rep. Connolly’s two amendments to broaden medical parole for incapacitated and terminally ill inmates, which will save the state hundreds of thousands of dollars.
————————————————————-Draft Email—————————————————-
Dear Rep. ________,
Thank you for talking with me today. [Or, “I want to thank your aide, [name here], for speaking with me today.]
As I said on the phone, I encourage you to vote for the omnibus criminal justice reform bill, H.4011, and for amendments to strengthen it.
In particular, I encourage you to co-sponsor and vote for the following amendments:
+ Raise the lower age of juvenile jurisdiction to 12 (not just 10);
+ Raise the upper age of juvenile jurisdiction to 19;
+ Reduce the criminalization of poverty by further reducing or eliminating fines and fees;
+ Raise the felony larceny threshold to $1,500 (the level it would be if it had kept up with inflation);
+ Eliminate mandatory minimums for all lower-level drug offenses;
+ Raise the thresholds for trafficking (they are currently what someone with a serious substance abuse issue would use in a few days, so would entrap users);
+ Increase pre-arraignment diversion options for juveniles (since getting a court record can affect someone for the rest of their life);
+ Allow juvenile records to be eligible for expungement after 3 years (H.4011 says 10 years, which is a very long time);
+ Put into statute that juveniles are not to be shackled without a specific reason;
+ Follow the advice of Citizens for Juvenile Justice on what juvenile data is important to collect;
+ Protect children by considering primary caretakers’ parental responsibilities when sentencing;
+ Track the savings from reduced prison populations and reinvest half of it in job training, job placement, and other supports;
+ Rep. Balser’s amendments to limit the Department of Corrections’ cruel over-reliance of solitary confinement and to provide data on its use; and
+ Rep. Connolly’s amendments to broaden medical parole for incapacitated and terminally ill inmates, which will save the state hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Thank you for putting more justice into our justice system.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address and phone number]
