Consider 2020 for a moment from the perspective of the U.S. criminal law system.
As many readers of this blog might well appreciate, the country’s criminal “justice” realm is comparatively vast. In fact, it is routinely recognized that individuals in the United States are incarcerated on both a per-capita and actual basis that exceeds any other nation.
That has wide-ranging implications of course, spanning concerns of a high recidivism offender rate, prosecutorial overcharging that yields unjust outcomes, outsized exactions placed on taxpayers and additional problems.
Critics of the system routinely spotlight these matters, arguing that material reforms are badly needed and long overdue. A recent in-depth piece authored by the independent national research group Vera Institute of Justice points to dire “fissures in a system that [customarily] puts punishment before people’s safety and well-being.”
And, interestingly, the institute spotlights the protracted COVID-19 health pandemic as having an unexpected salutary effect on the justice realm. Although that might reasonably seem counter-intuitive, Vera stresses that the crisis has “exposed the public health risks that overcrowded jails and prisons pose.” Moreover, the pandemic spawned some noted policy changes across the country that the research organization states should be materially expanded.
Pandemic-tied justice changes that should be continued
Not many readers of this blog will likely argue that law enforcers backing off a bit on traffic ticket issuance is a bad idea. That is precisely what legions of police departments did last year as the viral pandemic ramped up. Reform advocates applaud the adjustment (as least as far as minor offenses are concerned). noting that it cuts down on pretextual police conduct, minimizes racial bias and frees up cops to more effectively focus on truly consequential matters.
Another COVID-19-tied change meeting broad approval is the decision of many municipal officials spanning the country to minimize or vacate various court fees imposed on individuals. That has reportedly led to a material abatement of subsequent financial challenges paying rent, dealing with medical bills, making good on child support duties and so forth.
The prosecutorial decision to not routinely proceed with charges arguably minor in nature (e.g., first-time nonviolent offenses) has also been favorably cited by reform advocates. So too have been limitations on cash bail and pretrial detention that keep many people confined behind bars even when they haven’t been formally charged with a crime.
Can recent reform adjustments be sustained going forward?
Vera stresses that, “The pandemic proved policymakers can do things differently” and that the country now “can’t afford to go back.”
Time will tell concerning the traction and future of recently realized criminal justice reforms.