Governor Wolf Applauds Senate for Unanimous
Passage of Justice Reinvestment Initiatives Legislation
Harrisburg, PA – Governor Tom Wolf today applauded and
thanked the Senate for unanimous passage of a package of justice reinvestment
initiatives, known as JRI 2, introduced by Senator Stewart Greenleaf.
“Passage
of JRI 2 legislation will establish solutions to the challenges that
incarcerated individuals and those on parole face, ensuring fair, consistent
sentencing, probation practices that are evidence-based, and initiatives that
expand communications and compensation for crime victims,” Gov. Wolf said. “I
applaud Senator Greenleaf and the entire Senate for passage of these important
pieces of legislation that will help achieve the goals of a vastly improved
criminal justice system.
“The commonsense reforms under JRI 2 will
help save taxpayers money and ensure that
when people have served their time without incident they are able to reenter
society in a timely manner so that our taxpayers are not footing the bill for
extended prison stays after an individual has served their time.
“JRI 2 will invest more
resources in our county probation system to improve outcomes and increase the
use of evidence-based best practices so that we can improve supervision and
training to help probation officers work with individuals and make sure that we
are only requiring those who present a real risk to go back for further
supervision.
“JRI 2 will also help improve
sentencing guidelines to further reduce recidivism and will update sentencing
guidelines to make sure that we are doing all we can to emphasize risk
reduction and help make sure that people are only serving time in accordance
with their violation – rather than ordering longer sentences for smaller
violations.”
The JRI2 package of bills include:
SB 1071: Provides for release of ‘short-sentence’ offenders once a
minimum sentence is reached and certain provisions are met, including no
commission of violent crimes or certain sexual offenses, no gun or high-volume
drug delivery offenses, and no misconduct while incarcerated. This will provide
significant cost savings for the state.
SB1071 also
streamlines the process of accessing substance use disorder treatment for
incarcerated individuals, which can lead to earlier release from prison.
SB
1070: Reinvests savings generated by this bill will be used to create an
Advisory Committee that will approve and finance the use of best practices in
probation supervision statewide, using evidence-based practices to help county
probation departments assess the unique risks and needs of each individual on
probation.
SB
1072: This bill improves the flow of information to crime victims by
prosecutors and police and improves victim compensation for losses incurred
during the crime.
“We need to work to make our
criminal justice system more fair, more equitable and more focused on
rehabilitation, which JRI 2 will help do. Since I became governor, I have
worked hard to reform our system so that it leads to better outcomes and saves
taxpayer dollars – while also leading to less crime and fewer victims,” Gov.
Wolf said.
Governor Wolf led a
call-to-action for criminal justice reform
legislation, including
JRI 2, at a press conference with Senator Greenleaf on April 12 at the Dauphin
County Justice Center.
MEDIA CONTACT: J.J. Abbott, 717-783-1116
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