Judiciary
More on Judiciary
January 8, 2016
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to H.R. 1927, the so-called Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act.
In 2013, in Butler v. Sears, Judge Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals spoke critically of the commonality in damages requirement found in this bill.
Issues:Civil Rights
January 5, 2016
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), a vice chair of the House Democratic Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce, released the following statement on President Obama’s executive actions on gun violence prevention. Congressman Scott and other members of the task force met with the President yesterday afternoon to discuss these proposals and attended the announcement at the White House today.
“I commend the President for taking action to help reduce and prevent gun violence in light of the current congressional leadership’s refusal to responsibly address this epidemic. These executive actions will ensure stronger enforcement of current laws, will reduce the number of lives lost to gun violence and will make our communities safer.
Issues:Gun Safety
November 30, 2015
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Illinois and the gentleman from New Jersey for organizing this Special Order tonight. It takes a lot of work and a lot of time to organize these efforts, and I want to thank them both for the time and effort that they have put into this.
We have heard a lot about what the Congressional Black Caucus has done over the years. There are two areas that I have been personally involved in with the CBC effort in the areas of education and criminal justice reform. On both we have worked hard and achieved bipartisan support.
November 2, 2015
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I thank the gentlewoman for organizing this Special Order so that we can talk about many aspects of the criminal justice system.
You have asked us to talk about the militarization of communities, also what we can do to improve policing and the problem of mass incarceration. On the term of militarizing the communities, there was an amendment offered a few months ago that would have prevented the Department of Defense from giving local police departments certain military equipment.
Issues:Civil Rights
October 21, 2015
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for giving me the opportunity to speak in honor of the recently departed Congressman William Donlon ``Don'' Edwards, a civil rights champion, supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, defender of the Constitution.
I am proud to say that, as a freshman in Congress, I had the honor to serve with Congressman Edwards on the Committee on the Judiciary. I would just like to say a few words about his work on that committee.
Issues:Civil Rights
September 20, 2015
By Bobby Scott & Scott Rigell
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Bipartisanship is elusive in Washington, especially with an upcoming presidential election. But the widespread consensus behind efforts to fix our nation's broken and costly criminal justice system proves that common ground does exist.
Republicans and Democrats can agree that the driving force behind fixing our criminal justice system should be an approach that delivers the most public safety at the lowest taxpayer cost.
Along with many of our colleagues, we have been working to pass the Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective Justice Act. The SAFE Justice Act would implement targeted reforms to the federal sentencing and corrections system, drawing on research and empirical evidence about what truly works to change criminal behavior, protect public safety and control costs.
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 Rights
September 6, 2015
By Rep. Bobby Scott
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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 Rights
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 Rights
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 Rights