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ARE VIOLENT CRIMES DROPPING?
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM EXPERT: Molly Gill, is Vice President of Policy for Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM). Gill is a lawyer, advocate, and expert on sentencing law and policy. She began her legal career in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis, Minnesota, assisting with the prosecution of murders, gang crimes, and gun offenses.
In less than a decade, California has gone from being a standard-bearer for the ills of prison overcrowding to a national exemplar of reform, letting tens of thousands of people out of prison and reducing penalties for many crimes.
Important measures were passed by voters in 2014 and 2016, but only now is research starting to show the effects on crime in California. The new data is fueling a continuing debate, with national implications, about whether California should continue on the path of reform, or take a step back and get tougher, once again, on crime.
One recent study showed that an increase in crime in 2015 was not because of reforms. Another study determined that the reforms were not responsible for an increase in violent crime between 2014 and 2016 — that was from changes in reporting crime — but that they may have led to an increase in property crimes, specifically thefts from cars.
Adding to the body of evidence this week was a report on crime in 2017 released by the attorney general, Xavier Becerra. That report showed violent crime had increased 1.5 percent, while property crimes were down 2.1 percent.
READ MORE: www.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/us/california-today-criminal-justice-reforms.html
ABOUT: FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization fighting for smart sentencing laws that protect public safety. We see a country where criminal sentencing is individualized, humane, and sufficient to impose fair punishment and protect public safety. Our supporters include taxpayers, families, prisoners, law enforcement, attorneys, judges, criminal justice experts and concerned citizens.
What FAMM Does…
By advocating for sensible state and federal sentencing reform, FAMM helps:
(1) Lessen the burden of overcrowded prisons on taxpayers…
(2) Shift resources from excessive incarceration to law enforcement and other programs proven to reduce crime and recidivism…
(3) Mobilize those whose lives are harmed by unfair prison sentences to work constructively for change…
BIO: Molly Gill is the Vice President of Policy for Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM, www.famm.org), a nonpartisan, nonprofit sentencing reform organization in Washington, DC. Gill is a lawyer, advocate, and expert on sentencing law and policy, with almost 15 years of experience working in the criminal justice field. She coordinates FAMM’s sentencing reform campaigns in states across the country and works with state lawmakers, affected family members, and other criminal justice stakeholders to promote sentencing and prison policies that are cost-effective, protect public safety, fit the crime and the individual, and preserve families. Gill also serves as a commissioner on the District of Columbia Sentencing Commission.
WEBSITE: famm.org
TWITTER: @FAMMfoundation, @mmgillwriter
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