The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/washington-report/)
The White House’s $31.7 billion budget proposal for the Justice Department includes large sums to fight violent crime, counter mass violence and combat the opioid crisis. But it would also cut many programs, including a 20 percent drop in aid to crime victims.
Caren Harp, head of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Protection, says the government hopes to “roll back” the bureaucratic requirements that have led to states dropping out of a program aimed at ensuring core protections for youths in custody.
The pledge was made Thursday by Ja’Ron Smith of the White House’s Office of American Innovation at the inaugural “leadership summit” of the Council on Criminal Justice, a new national organization devoted to studying problems in the criminal justice system.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John Cornyn (R-TX) reintroduced a proposal to create a 14-member bipartisan commission. An early backer is presidential candidate Kamala Harris (D-CA).
Under the budget sent by the White House to Congress Monday, the Justice Department will be hit with a small decrease. But it would still fare better than many other federal agencies, which could lose more than 10 percent. One agency targeted for the chopping block: the Community Oriented Policing Services program (COPS).
The Justice Department had announced a new direction for the justice reinvestment program that encourages states to cut prison populations. The proposal has been withdrawn after advocates of reinvestment sought support from key members of Congress.
More than 100 civil rights, “digital justice” and community groups issued a statement expressing concerns about the expanding use of risk assessment instruments as a substitute for basing bail releases on money. The groups said risk assessment tools may not only exacerbate racial bias but “allow further incarceration.”
David Muhlhausen, director of the Justice Department’s research agency, predicted at a Washington, D.C., meeting that research will play “an ever more important role in how the criminal justice field operates.” The National Institute of Justice gave $221 million in grants last year.
The Trump administration wants to change the direction of a longstanding partnership with nonprofits aimed at reducing prison populations. Thirty-five states have taken part in the program.
Analyzing federal data, the Violence Policy Center says that states with weak gun violence prevention laws and higher rates of gun ownership have the highest gun suicide rates.