Keith Ellison on Crime Democrat

No simplistic axioms like “tough on crime”

Voted YES on enforcing against anti-gay hate crimes.

Proponent's argument to vote Yes:Rep. JOHN CONYERS (D, MI-14):This bill expands existing Federal hate crimes law to groups who are well-known targets for bias-based violence--they are sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability. These crimes of violence are directed not just at those who are directly attacked; they are targeting the entire group with the threat of violence.

Opponent's argument to vote No:Rep. LAMAR SMITH (R, TX-21): Every year thousands of violent crimes are committed out of hate, but just as many violent crimes, if not more, are motivated by something other than hate--greed, jealousy, desperation or revenge, just to name a few. An individual's motivation for committing a violent crime is usually complex and often speculative. Every violent crime is deplorable, regardless of its motivation. That's why all violent crimes should be vigorously prosecuted. Unfortunately, this bill undermines one of the most basic principles of our criminal justice system--equal justice for all. Under this bill, justice will no longer be equal. Justice will now depend on the race, gender, sexual orientation, disability or other protected status of the victim. It will allow different penalties to be imposed for the same crime. This is the real injustice.

Voted YES on expanding services for offenders' re-entry into society.

Proponents support voting YES because:

Rep. CONYERS: Some 650,000 men and women are leaving the Federal and State prisons each year. While the vast majority of the prisoners are committed to abiding by the law and becoming productive members of society, they often encounter the same pressures & temptations that they faced before prison. More than two-thirds of them are arrested for new crimes within 3 years of their release. This exacts a terrible cost in financial terms as well as in human terms. The Second Chance Act will help provide these men and women with the training, counseling and other support needed to help them obtain & hold steady jobs; to kick their drug and alcohol habits; rebuild their families; and deal with the many other challenges that they face in their efforts to successfully rejoin society.

Opponents recommend voting NO because:

Rep. GOHMERT: The programs that are sought to be renewed are ones we don't have information on how successful they were. I can tell you from my days as a judge, there was some anecdotal evidence that it looked like faith-based programs did a better job of dramatically reducing recidivism. In addition:

• There are some provisions that allow for too much administration. That is going to build a bigger bureaucracy.
• Dismissing all charges if someone completes drug rehab under another provision I think is outrageous. You are going to remove the hammer that would allow you to keep people in line?
• We also have a provision to teach inmates how they can go about getting the most welfare before they leave prison and go out on their own.

Increase funding for "COPS ON THE BEAT" program.

COPS Improvements Act of 2007 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to make grants for public safety and community policing programs (COPS ON THE BEAT or COPS program). Revises grant purposes to provide for:

1. the hiring or training of law enforcement officers for intelligence, antiterror, and homeland security duties;
2. the hiring of school resource officers;
3. school-based partnerships between local law enforcement agencies and local school systems to combat crime, gangs, drug activities, and other problems facing elementary and secondary schools;
4. innovative programs to reduce and prevent illegal drug (including methamphetamine) manufacturing, distribution, and use; and
5. enhanced community policing and crime prevention grants that meet emerging law enforcement needs.

Authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to:
1. assign community prosecutors to handle cases from specific geographic areas and address counterterrorism problems, specific violent crime problems, and localized violent and other crime problems; and
2. develop new technologies to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in crime prevention.

Reduce recidivism by giving offenders a Second Chance.

Recidivism Reduction and Second Chance Act of 2007
• Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to expand provisions for adult and juvenile offender state and local reentry demonstration projects to provide expanded services to offenders and their families for reentry into society.
• Directs the Attorney General to award grants for:
  1. state and local reentry courts;
  2. Comprehensive and Continuous Offender Reentry Task Forces;
  3. pharmacological drug treatment services to incarcerated offenders;
  4. technology career training for offenders;
  5. mentoring services for reintegrating offenders into the community;
  6. pharmacological drug treatment services to incarcerated offenders;
  7. prison-based family treatment programs for incarcerated parents of minor children; and
  8. a study of parole or post-incarceration supervision violations and revocations.

Facilitate recovering crime victim restitution fees.

Congressional Summary:

• Requires the chief justice of the highest court of any state that wishes to collect past-due, legally enforceable state judicial debts to designate a single state entity to communicate judicial debt information to the Secretary of the Treasury.
• Directs the Secretary, upon receiving notice from such an entity that a named person owes a past-due, legally enforceable state judicial debt, to pay such debt from any tax refund due to such person.
• Defines "state judicial debt" to include court costs, fees, fines, assessments, restitution to victims of crime, and other monies resulting from a judgment or sentence rendered by any court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction handling criminal or traffic cases in the state.

Abolish the federal death penalty.

Congressional Summary:

• Repeals death penalty provisions for a wide range of homicide-related offenses, including offenses punished under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
• Prohibits the sentencing to death or execution of any person for any violation of federal law after the enactment of this Act.
• Commutes death penalties imposed prior to the enactment of this Act to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

OnTheIssues Notes: This bill affects only the FEDERAL death penalty, not STATE death penalties. The death penalty is currently implemented in 34 states. It was re-legalized by a Supreme Court decision in 1977, for both state and federal executions. Since then, 1,278 people have been executed, but only 3 of those have been federal executions. About 3,250 inmates remain on 'Death Row,' and 61 for federal death row. Texas is by far the national leader in executions--it has executed 477 people as of Jan. 2012, 37% of the national total. (Virginia is a very distant second with 109). In other words, this bill is largely symbolic, unless states followed the federal abolition.

Sponsored evidence-based & proven prevention for street gangs.

Congressional Summary:Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education Act or the Youth Promise Act:

• Establish a PROMISE Advisory Panel to assess and develop standards and evidence-based practices to prevent juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity.
• Collect data to assess the needs and existing resources for juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity prevention and intervention.
• Implement PROMISE plans, developed by local PROMISE Coordinating Councils (PCCs), for coordinating and supporting the delivery of juvenile delinquency and gang prevention and intervention programs in local communities.
• Establishes a National Research Center for Proven Juvenile Justice Practices to provide PCCs and the public with research and other information about evidence-based practices related to juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang prevention or intervention.
• Awards grants to institutions of higher education to serve as regional research partners with PCCs that are located in the same geographic region as the educational institution.

Opponent's argument against bill: (Dissenting views on

National standards on excessive use of police force.

Congressional Summary: Congress finds the following:

• This past year alone we have seen 7 different incidents of the unjustified use of lethal and excessive force by police officers against African-Americans
• From 2011 to 2015, 28,500 complaints filed against Chicago Police officers resulted in no discipline.
• These incidents and countless others are not isolated but reflect a pervasive pattern of racial bias in the use of excessive force in communities of color.
• It is the will of the Congress that a select committee be formed to investigate these patterns of excessive use of force in communities of color, and recommend:
• A uniform definition of `excessive use of force` for purposes of criminal prosecutions of law enforcement officers who employ force against individuals suspected of criminal offenses.
• Collection of accurate and reliable data on police shootings and the use of excessive force.
• Implementation of a national database to make available to the public data on complaints filed against law enforcement officers and departments alleging excessive use of force.
• Creation of effective training methods and mental counseling of a law enforcement officer to understand what is and is not a real threat to his or her safety, and to examine his or her reactions to presumed threats for any latent racial bias, animus, or hostility.