Despite Senate Defeat, Webb Vows to Fight On for Criminal Reform

Sen. Webb

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) vows to fight on despite a defeat for his legislation to create a blue-ribbon, bipartisan commission of experts charged with undertaking an 18-month, top-to-bottom review of the nation’s criminal justice system and offering concrete recommendations for reform.  Republicans filibustered the bill this week.

“Their inflammatory arguments defy reasonable explanation and were contradicted by the plain language of our legislation. To suggest, for example, that the non-binding recommendations of a bipartisan commission threaten the Constitution is absurd,” Webb said..

“But we have been here before: In 2007, our soldiers and Marines were being deployed again and again, resulting in rising mental health problems and falling retention rates. On two occasions, I offered legislation requiring active-duty troops to have equal time at home as on deployment. On both occasions, Republican Senators blocked this sensible, time-honored policy,” Webb said. “We did not back down. We kept fighting and we changed the debate. Today proper dwell-time rotations are a top priority at the highest levels of the Defense Department.”

Webb says progress is also being made on criminal reform, despite the latest setback.

“When I first raised the issue in 2006, it was believed to be political suicide. But after years of building the case for reform, we have earned the trust and support of advocates across the philosophical and political spectrum, including the National Sheriffs’ Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Sentencing Project, the NAACP, the ACLU and Prison Fellowship,” he said.

“We will not back down. We will keep fighting for a comprehensive review of the justice system, with the help of the thousands of sheriffs, police, mayors and justice advocates who have joined us in pressing for reform,” vowed Webb, who does not plan to seek re-election next year.

Here is a compilation, provided by Webb’s office of what law enforcement and criminal justice experts have said about his efforts.
What They’re Saying about the National Criminal Justice Commission Act

LAW ENFORCEMENT LEADERS:

Chief Michael J. Carroll, International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) President, 2/24/2011:
“For more than twenty years, the IACP has advocated for the creation of a commission that would follow in the footsteps of the 1965 Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice… The IACP believes that it is imperative that the National Criminal Justice Commission Act be approved in a timely fashion. For far too long our nation’s law enforcement and criminal justice system has lacked a strategic plan that will guide and integrate public safety and homeland security’s effort in the years ahead.”

Chuck Canterbury, National President, Fraternal Order of Police, 2/16/2011:
“The recommendations made by the 1965 commission provided the basis for a legislative overhaul and modernization of the criminal justice system… Law enforcement has changed a great deal in the last few decades. We believe that establishing a national commission…will only help law enforcement officers do their jobs more effectively, more, efficiently and more safely.”

Sheriff B.J. Roberts, President of National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA), 2/15/2011:
“Emerging issues in law enforcement, such as acts of terrorism and threats to homeland security, make the creation of a national commission all the more necessary to ensure law enforcement…has the tools and knowledge necessary to adapt to the continually evolving justice system. The NSA commends Senator Webb on his leadership on this critical issue and we look forward to working with him to pass S. 306 during the 112th Congress.”

CRIMINAL JUSTICE EXPERTS:

Charles Colson, Founder, Prison Fellowship, 7/22/2009:
“I write this from the perspective of a conservative who has always been comfortable as a reformer… I don’t believe this is an ideological issue at all, but one on which people of good will, conservative and liberal alike, could join forces to make prisons more effective, humane and successful… We will certainly give you all the help we can to build support for your legislation.”

Brian W. Walsh, The Heritage Foundation, 6/11/2009:
“Reform experts who are serious about criminal-justice reform should draw encouragement from Senator Webb’s efforts to date to reach out to elected officials on both sides of the aisle and to criminal-justice reform advocates across the conservative-to-liberal spectrum.”

Marc Mauer, Executive Director of The Sentencing Project, 4/20/2009:
“A new approach to crime prevention is necessary and the time for reform is upon us. The commission created by this legislation would establish an organized and proactive approach to studying and advancing programs and policies that promote public safety, while overhauling those practices that are found to be fundamentally flawed… We strongly urge passage of the National Criminal Justice Commission Act.”

Professor Charles J. Ogletree of Harvard Law School, 6/11/2009:
“The comprehensive, timely, and important bill proposed by Senator Jim Webb will go a long way toward addressing some of the severe inequities in the criminal justice system. This effort should be pursued with great vigor to ensure that we not only hold offenders accountable, but that we implement criminal justice policies that are sensible, fair, increase public safety and make judicious use of our state and federal resources.”

Learn more about the National Criminal Justice Commission Act here: http://www.webb.senate.gov/issuesandlegislation/criminaljusticeandlawenforcement/Criminal_Justice_Banner.cfm.