Good 4 Utah - Revised Criminal Justice Reform Bill Ready for Senate Hearing

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By Glen Mills

Support for a bill that would reform the criminal justice system is growing in Congress.

Utah Senator, Mike Lee first teamed up with Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois about three years ago.Today the bill is cosponsored by a bipartisan group of senators. You might call it a rare sight in Washington these days.

"We come here today to tell you about something that unites us, that brings us together and not without a lot of work," said Durbin.

That something is the Sentencing Reform & Corrections Act, co-sponsored by 37 senators from both sides of the isle. The focus is to address the exploding prison population across the country.

"This also has a significant human cost, which I think is the most important element of all of it. We have husbands, and fathers, sons, nephews, uncles, brothers who have been locked up for years, sometimes decades at a time for circumstances that often don't warrant it," said Lee.

It will do that by reducing minimum sentences for low level, nonviolent offenders, and by giving judges more discretion on a case by case basis.

"We will not make the American people more safe, we will make them less safe if we cling arbitrarily, emotionally to those outdated outmoded and irrational laws that we intend to reform with this legislation," said Lee.

The bill has also been adjusted recently to make sure violent criminals don't benefit from reduced sentences and stay locked up. Supporters say it's a crisis that is costing billions and it must be confronted.

"We think this is the most comprehensive, far reaching criminal justice reform which congress has seen in decades," said Durbin.

The bill has support from more than 400 groups, including the National District Attorneys Association.It's passed committee and is waiting for a hearing on the Senate floor.

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