Sarah Caplin
Louisiana Must Act to Improve Public Safety
With an incarceration rate that has increased by 35 percent over the past 20 years, resulting in annual costs to taxpayers as high as $700 million Louisiana jails people at a rate nearly double the national average. This upcoming legislative session, Louisiana lawmakers have an opportunity to turn a corner and implement conservative, data-driven policies that will improve public safety while lowering the rate of incarceration.
After referencing the best research in the field and a year long period of extensive stakeholder discussion, The Louisiana Justice Reinvestment Task force developed 26 policy recommendations aimed at protecting citizens while getting a better return on public safety dollars. The goal of these smart data driven recommendations is to address the state drivers of high prison admissions and lengthy stays that have created a bloated system that is complicated, often inaccessible to victims, and creates barriers for both those convicted of crimes and those in administering the sentencing system.
Recidivism in Louisiana is extremely high where 1 in three people return to prison within just three years. The Task Force also found that Louisiana sends people to prison for nonviolent, drug and property crimes at twice the rate of neighboring South Carolina and three times the rate of Florida. These states notably have identical crime rates to Louisiana.
House Speaker Tyler Barras has said “A lot of our low-level drug and property crime is driven by addiction...We can save millions and also have less crime by focusing prison beds on those who pose a more serious public safety threat and making smart investments in probation and drug treatment for nonviolent crimes.”
Recommendations from the task force chart a data driven course for comprehensive reform and address high admissions for probation failures and nonviolent crimes and growth in those prisoners serving longest terms. They allow greater discretion for judges and parole boards and the reforms similar to the task force recommendations have reduced crime and imprisonment in other states. These reforms ensure clarity and consistency in sentencing, focus prison beds on those who pose a serious public safety threat and strengthen community supervision and paths to successful reentry.
States such as Texas, Georgia and Alabama have adopted similar practices to make their justice systems more effective and sustainable and Louisiana is in good company in following their lead.
"Our criminal justice system needs major reformation," said Department of Public Safety and Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc, chairman of the blue ribbon panel. "It's costing taxpayers a ton of money and not getting outcomes. I've never seen such bipartisan support and call for reform”
There is no defense for maintaining the status quo with that same bipartisan, business, and public support for spending fewer taxpayer dollars on ineffective prisons and dedicating those funds to alternatives that have a proven track record of results. We are encouraged by this progress and hope to see Louisiana shed the dubious honor of the incarceration capital of the world.
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Arkansas Should Not Lose Ground on Public Safety
In a letter sent to the Arkansas Legislature, Americans for Tax Reform urged state lawmakers to oppose mandatory minimum sentencing in SB 177.
Increasing sentences arbitrarily and limiting parole options can result in severe sentencing outcomes that neither fit the crime nor the individual's unique circumstances. This is why over 30 states have reassessed prison sentences and corrections spending in the last 15 years.
If passed, SB 177 would undo Arkansas’ progress in establishing a more effective criminal justice system. More taxpayer dollars would be spent on low level offenders instead of serious violent criminals. After passage, the prison population would increase by 5,500 mostly non-violent people at a cost of $692 million over ten years.
Read the letter here or below.
March 28, 2017
Dear Members of the Arkansas Senate,
On behalf of Americans for Tax Reform and our supporters across Arkansas, I write today in strong opposition of SB 177. If passed, SB 177 would undo Arkansas’ progress in establishing a more effective criminal justice system. More taxpayer dollars would be spent on low level offenders instead of serious violent criminals.
Thanks to Act 423, enacted earlier this month, Arkansas took needed steps to stabilize its prison population and averted an increase in its prison population of 1,650 people by 2023. This will relieve pressure on the already at-capacity prisons from the added strain, and allow the state to avoid building more prisons. Act 423’s passage look to projected savings of over $288 million. Rolling back these reforms would be a mistake.
Increasing sentences arbitrarily and limiting parole options can result in severe sentencing outcomes that neither fit the crime nor the individual's unique circumstances. This is why over 30 states have reassessed prison sentences and corrections spending in the last 15 years.
An impact estimate done by Arkansas’ Sentencing commission found that enacting SB 177 would have costly consequences for the state’s budget. After passage, the prison population would increase by 5,500 mostly non-violent people at a cost of $692 million over ten years.
SB 177 would take sentencing discretion away from the judges who know the specifics of a case and can properly determine what an appropriate sentence is. This encourages excessive incarceration and risks breaking families apart unnecessarily. Children and spouses would be deprived of breadwinners, risking negative effects on their own lives.
Act 423 uses the money saved from reductions in prison spending on recidivism reduction initiatives such as mental health services and addiction treatment. Rather than warehousing low risk offenders, this approach can reduce crime rates at a faster rate without breaking the budget.
Given the undeniable costs and dubious benefits of mass, long-term incarceration of nonviolent offenders, the Arkansas Legislature should turn away from sentencing practices that have been shown not to work. The Natural State has already passed legislation to improve public safety through smarter crime policies, this bill represents a significant step in the wrong direction.
I encourage you to extend your opposition for this important legislation. For more information, please contact Jorge Marin in my office at jmarin@atr.org
Regards,
Grover G. Norquist
President
Americans for Tax Reform
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ATR Supports Better Sentencing in Nebraska
Americans for Tax Reform this week released a letter to Nebraska lawmakers urging support for State Senator Ernie Chamber’s LB 447.
Nonviolent drug offenses make up a significant proportion of mandatory minimums and result in arbitrary and severe sentencing outcomes that neither fit the crime nor the individual's unique circumstances. Nebraska prisons are now filled with low-level offenders, resulting in overcapacity prison populations and higher costs for taxpayers.
LB 447 is an important step toward comprehensive sentencing reform. This legislation would turn sentencing over to the judges who know the specifics of a crime and can properly determine what an appropriate sentence is. This avoids excessive incarceration and maintains families intact for longer. Children and spouses will not have to be deprived of breadwinners, reducing the negative effects on their own lives.
Below is the text of the letter, which can also be found here.
March 23, 2017
Dear members of the Nebraska Legislature,
On behalf of Americans for Tax Reform and our supporters across Nebraska, I write today in strong support of LB 447. If passed, LB 447 would focus Nebraska’s overcrowded prisons on dangerous offenders and save the state several millions of dollars.
Nonviolent drug offenses, which make up a significant proportion of mandatory minimums, result in arbitrary and severe sentencing outcomes that neither fit the crime nor the individual's unique circumstances. Nebraska prisons are now filled with low-level offenders, resulting in overcapacity prison populations and higher costs for taxpayers. This is why over 30 states have reassessed mandatory minimum sentences in the last 15 years.
LB 447 is an important step toward comprehensive sentencing reform. Judges are denied the right to bring their experience, discretion, and sense of what is just into the sentencing procedure. This approach fills prisons with people who pose little risk to society, straining public resources without any gains in safety.
This legislation would turn sentencing over to the judges who know the specifics of a crime and can properly determine what an appropriate sentence is. This avoids excessive incarceration and maintains families intact for longer. Children and spouses will not have to be deprived of breadwinners, reducing the negative effects on their own lives.
In addition, LB 447 has the potential to save the state of Nebraska $3.5 million annually. The current results of a high rate of mandatory minimum offenders in prison are not cost-effective. As of 2013, Nebraska's correctional expenditures were nearly 193 million. Unless state policymakers act, they will likely need to spend another $100 million to build yet another prison.
Given the undeniable costs and dubious benefits of mass, long-term incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders, the Nebraska Legislature should take steps to give judges more flexibility in sentencing those offenders. The Cornhusker State has already passed legislation to improve public safety through smarter crime policies, this bill represents another step in the right direction.
I encourage you to extend your support for this important legislation. For more information, please contact Jorge Marin in my office at jmarin@atr.org
Regards,
Grover G. Norquist
President
Americans for Tax Reform
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On Wednesday night, Montana Governor Steve Bullock signed four criminal justice reform bills that seek to cut costs and reduce recidivism.
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IRS Shortchanges Taxpayers $1.2 Million Due To Outdated Tech
The IRS shortchanged taxpayers $1.2 million because they failed to address outdated computer systems, according to a report published by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).
Despite previous warning, the IRS failed to update computer program changes that were brought to their attention. After an extensive evaluation, TIGTA discovered multiple employee and processing errors within the IRS.
As a result of these errors, The IRS doled out $1.2 million less in a property tax credit than taxpayers were owed. As the report notes:
“The IRS incorrectly limited the Property Credit on 731 tax returns processed as of April 28, 2016, which caused these taxpayers to receive approximately $1.2 million less in credits than they were entitled to receive.”
Despite previous warning, TIGTA also found that computer programming errors are still causing some direct deposits to not convert to a paper check as required. As TIGTA noted:
“Our analysis of the 86 million deposit requests identified 5,605 deposit attempts totaling approximately $9.2 million that did not convert to a paper check as required.”
This is not an isolated incident. As the report notes, The IRS did not establish adequate processes to ensure that required documentation was associated and reviewed before processing claims and allowing credits:
“Our review also identified that employee errors resulting from the manual processing of these claims further delayed some taxpayer refunds. For example, TIGTA’s review of 6,300 electronically filed tax returns and 356 paper tax returns with Health Coverage Tax Credit claims totaling more than $20.8 million that were processed as of April 28, 2016, identified 450 (6.8 percent) returns that had a processing error.”
The IRS has proven itself to be inept with technology. A 2015 report found that the agency was unable to upgrade all of its Windows workstations by the proper deadlines. In addition to this critical error, the IRS had not accounted for the location or migration status of approximately 1,300 workstations and upgraded only about one-half of its Windows servers in a five year time span. A separate report from 2016 found that the IRS wasted $12 million on an unusable email system because they purchased it without completing the required and necessary cost analysis.
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