Webb Crime Bill Moving In House

The House of Representatives will be taking up a companion version of a popular Senate bill intended to overhaul the American criminal justice system, Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) told the Huffington Post on Wednesday.

The Senate bill was introduced by Sen. Jim Webb and would create a commission to make recommendations on the reform of everything from sentencing to drug policy. Everything, Webb has said, would be on the table.

Delahunt, a senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said that reform of the American justice system should begin with a broad look at drug policy.

"I think it's really time to do an absolute overview of the issue of drugs and come at it with an open mind," he said.

The bill, he said, "would create a commission of respected individuals in the field with a time frame for review. This deals with gang violence and everything else, but clearly, as you continue to peel back the problems, dealing with crime in this country, and particularly violent crime, the one common nexus is drugs. So you've gotta take a hard look at that."

Delahunt is a former prosecutor from Massachusetts. Asked how his experience as a prosecutor shapes his thinking on drug legalization, he turned the question around.

"I mean, how long have we been waging the war on drugs?" he said.

Forty years?

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"Is it working?" he asked.

Webb's bill was heard on June 11th in Sen. Arlen Specter's (D-Penn.) Crime and Drugs Subcommittee and is moving quickly. It now boasts 30 cosponsors, including Specter and the Judiciary Committee chairman, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), also a former prosecutor.

The top four Democratic leaders -- Sens. Harry Reid (Nev.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Chuck Schumer and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) -- have signed on. It has Republican backing from conservative Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both influential voices on the Judiciary Committee, as well as moderate Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine.

"We've got a good chance to get this done this year," said Webb when he introduced the bill. "I'm very concerned about the issue of gangs and transnational gangs and I think a big piece of that -- not all of it -- a big piece of that is the movement of drugs."

Ryan Grim's book, This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America, is now on sale

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Comments

[Twopennygal]

While I applaud the effort, there's no telling if the "commission" will actually come up with some good ideas or not. They may just be a bunch of idiots who want even tougher penalties for things (drugs) that should be decriminalized. And then, if they do come out with a good plan, there's nothing to say their plan will be followed..­.

[RoloTomassi]

Our prosecutors are career-driven, win-at-all-costs gamers, who depend on jurors’ “guilty-by­-accusatio­n” mentality for winning cases that should never be brought to trial, while they knowingly allowing wrongly-convicted people to remain in prison for the sake of maintaining their reputations and conviction tally….

Our elected criminal court judges are swayed in their rulings by privatized prison lobbyists [and the $$$ that such suggests], while our civil court judges are mostly rightwing anti-litigation corporatists who consistently side with corporate abusers….

Our public defenders are mostly under-funded to the point of ineffectiv­eness—that is, if they haven’t become full-blown guilty plea brokers….

And our drug laws serve the despicable purpose of providing warm bodies to fill the quotas of the privatized prison system, and bolster its related corporate profits.

So please tell me…what is there about our criminal [and civil] justice system that DOES NOT need reform?

Senator Webb, our hopes ride on your efforts--fight the good fight, as you will be opposed at every turn.

[blackmouth]

The country has been scared, as usual, by the right wing to make ridiculous law concerning drugs and the user of drugs. It's about time to confront this issue with common sense instead of lies and scare tactics.

[schicklett3]

I adore Jim Webb - and will fully support him for president in 2016.

[YewNeekId]

Go Webb Go!

I love this man for his courage.

[fredamae]

What Is the Bill Number?

[coolekat]

Senator Webb - finally a thinking man in Washington D.C.

[DrDemon]

WOW!


This is GREAT news!

[ladyvader]

I want single payer.

[jacobnyc]

Wake me up when this actually passes. I'm sure the 'centrist' dems have an ace up their sleeve.

Our government sucks. When the Repubs are in charge, they wage a war against us. When Dems are in charge, they act like paralyzed goons. I want health care passed with the public option, I want an agressive global warming bill. I want all the things Obama promised during the primaries and the general election. We want Change!

[Swatantra]

Yeah I dig that, man!

[Hopeington]

This is the best news I've heard lately. We need reform in our prison and "justice" system. This is long over due so it's good to know someone is on the job.

[mutatio]

Not to mention the amount of $ that could be skimmed off our budget if drug offenses didn't lead to incarceration. The last I checked, treatment and or-preventive measures cost roughly 1/6 of punitive measures.

[Beachchick]

We want your Bill to pass Senator Webb.

[jsgaetano]

Legalize drugs, and you stop funding criminals.

It truly is that simple.

[mcmutter]

Stop letting the banks get away with murder.

[jsgaetano]

Exactly- the banks are the ones really profitting from the "war on drugs".

[DavidDial]

I don't know what kind of changes might come out of this but one thing is for sure... unless you take away innocent until proven guilty it couldn't get much worse.