Judiciary
More on Judiciary
September 9, 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) will host a briefing tomorrow with prosecutors, police and public safety professionals on why prison and sentencing reform will make our communities safer. H.R. 2944, the Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective (SAFE) Justice Act was introduced earlier this summer by Representatives Sensenbrenner and Scott. The SAFE Justice Act takes a broad-based approach to improving the federal sentencing and corrections system, from front-end sentencing reform to back-end release policies. It is also the first bill that addresses the federal supervision system – ensuring that probation does a better job stopping the revolving door at federal prisons.
Issues:Civil RightsCrimeJudiciary
September 6, 2015
By Rep. Bobby Scott
For far too long, politicians across the nation have chosen to play politics with crime policy by enacting so-called “tough on crime” slogans such as “three strikes and you’re out” or rhymes like “you do the adult crime, you do the adult time.” As appealing as these soundbites may be, they have done nothing to reduce crime — but they have overloaded our prisons.
Research by The Pew Charitable Trusts shows that between 1980 and 2013 our federal prison population skyrocketed from 24,000 to 215,000. The United States now has around 5 percent of the world’s population, yet 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. It has gotten to the point that some recent studies have concluded that our level of over-incarceration is actually counterproductive, meaning that it destroys so many families, creates so many people with felony records and wastes so much taxpayer money that it generates more crime than it stops.
Issues:Civil RightsCrimeJudiciary
August 18, 2015
NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Today, Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott announced that he will be given a tour of the Newport News City Jail by Sheriff G. Morgan on Tuesday, August 18, 2015 at 1:00 pm. The Newport News jail tour will highlight the need for improvements and investments into the facility which currently provides assistance to inmates with substance abuse and mental health issues.
Issues:Civil RightsCrimeJudiciary
August 6, 2015
NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Today, Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott announced that he will host Criminal Justice Reform forums in Richmond on Monday, August 10th and in Norfolk on Tuesday, August 11th. Congressman Scott will be joined by law enforcement officials, judges, and other criminal justice experts. These events are free and open to the public. In addition to hearing from experts in the criminal justice field, Congressman Scott will also discuss H.R. 2944, the Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective (SAFE) Justice Act, legislation that he introduced earlier this summer with Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI). The SAFE Justice Act takes a broad-based approach to improving the federal sentencing and corrections system, from front-end sentencing reform to back-end release policies. It is also the first bill that addresses the federal supervision system – ensuring that probation does a better job stopping the revolving door at federal prisons.
Issues:Civil RightsCrimeJudiciary
The Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective (SAFE) Justice Act, introduced with Congressman Jason Lewis (R-MN), takes a broad-based approach to improving the federal sentencing and corrections system, from front-end sentencing reform to back-end release policies.
June 25, 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two years after beginning an intensive, comprehensive review of the federal criminal justice system as the leaders of the Over-Criminalization Task Force, Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) today introduced bipartisan, state-tested legislation aimed at safely reining in the size and associated costs of the federal criminal code and prison system.
The Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective (SAFE) Justice Act of 2015 takes a broad-based approach to improving the federal sentencing and corrections system, from front-end sentencing reform to back-end release policies. It is also the first bill that addresses the federal supervision system – ensuring that probation does a better job stopping the revolving door at federal prisons.
Issues:Civil RightsCrimeJudiciary
June 23, 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, June 25th, Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) will announce the introduction of the Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective (SAFE) Justice Act of 2015. Representatives Sensenbrenner and Scott led the House Judiciary Committee’s Over-criminalization Task Force during the 113th Congress. The task force was charged with assessing the entire federal criminal justice system and making recommendations for improvements. Over the course of 18 months, the task force held ten hearings and heard testimony from numerous stakeholders, including experts in the federal, academic, and nonprofit sectors.
June 2, 2015
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Chair, this amendment that I am offering today would repurpose just 1 percent of the funding for the Federal prison system and restore funding for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Madam Chair, the underlying bill zeros out both title II formula grants and title V discretionary grants for prevention and early intervention programs, which were funded last year at approximately $70 million. To ensure that our State juvenile justice systems are not irreparably damaged, this amendment would take just 1 percent away from our Federal prison systems, approximately $70 million, to maintain our commitment to prevention and early intervention.
May 21, 2015
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 75th Anniversary of the Old Dominion Bar Association (ODBA), of which I am proud to be a member. Members will be gathering next week in Glen Allen, Virginia for their annual conference and to celebrate this historic milestone.
The ODBA traces its history to a December 1940 incident where an African American lawyer was asked to move to another section of the law library of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Frederic Charles Carter, Esq. was working in the law library when he was ordered to move to another section because of an alleged new Supreme Court policy limiting African American attorneys to a specific section of the law library. Carter refused to move and the head librarian summoned a police officer to demand Carter see him in his office.
Issues:Civil RightsJudiciary
April 29, 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) met with William Sabol, Ph.D., Director of the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), on the measures that BJS is taking to implement the reauthorization of the Death in Custody Reporting Act, which was signed into law by President Obama on December 18, 2014. The Death in Custody Reporting Act requires federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to report deaths of individuals that occur in their custody or during the course of an arrest. It is the only post-Ferguson federal legislation to be enacted by Congress to date.
Congressman Scott issued the following statement in response to yesterday’s briefing with Director Sabol and other officials from the Department of Justice:
Issues:Civil RightsCrimeJudiciary