The transcript of Holder's prepared speech is here.
"Holder: Jail is not only crime solution," is the Chicago Tribune report written by Kristen Schorsch.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, addressing the American Bar Association on Monday, called for getting not only tough but also "smart" on crime, saying that jail is not the entire answer when it comes to law enforcement.
Noting that one of every 100 adults across the country is behind bars -- "the highest incarceration rate in the world" -- Holder said that putting people in prison costs too much economically and socially in a nation where car dealerships are closing, teachers are getting laid off and after-school programs are being cut.
"But in almost all cases, spending on prisons continues to rise," Holder said during a roughly 20-minute speech at the association's annual meeting in Chicago. "This is unsustainable economically."
Holder called for new strategies and tools to fight crime, such as studying what happens to inmates once they leave prison and developing programs based more on their failure or success.
And:
Holder also wants to identify and tailor programs for children who are most at risk for committing crimes later in life. Also on the table, Holder said, are addressing a lack of resources for public defenders -- a line that drew applause from the assembled lawyers -- and reviewing federal sentencing and corrections policy.
The ABA Journal has posted, "AG Holder Calls for Getting ‘Smart on Crime’," written by Edward A. Adams.
“We must be tough on crime, but we must also commit ourselves to being smart on crime,” he said.
Since 2003, spending on incarceration has continued to grow, while crime rates have stopped declining, he said. Now, one of every 100 adult Americans is incarcerated— the highest incarceration rate in the world, he said.
As evidence of how DOJ will implement a data-driven approach, he noted that federal prisoners who go through a drug treatment program are 16 percent less likely to be arrested and returned to prison. Those who work in prison industries are 24 percent less likely to commit a crime again. Those who go through prison education programs are 16 percent less likely to be arrested again, he said.
Most crimes are committed by people who have already committed crime, he noted. More than 65 percent of former state prisoners and 40 percent of former federal prisoners are rearrested within three years of their release, he said.
“Even a modest reduction in recidivism would prevent thousands of crimes,” Holder said.
"Holder draws applause calling for indigent defense, DNA testing," is at the National Law Journal's coverage of the ABA Annual Meeting.
With respect to the lack of resources for public defender programs, Holder said that those programs receive only 3 percent of criminal budget spending in the nation’s biggest counties. “This growing crisis is troubling not just because of the government’s constitutional duty to ensure the right to counsel,” he said. “When defendants fail to receive competent legal representation, their cases are vulnerable to costly and time-consuming mistakes.”
Holder described the Justice Department as committed to using the best available technology, including forensic science, whenever possible. Defendants should have access to DNA evidence in a variety of situations, he said.
In a reference to the U.S. Supreme Court's June 18 decision in District Attorney's Office v. Osborne, which found no constitutional right to post-conviction access to DNA evidence, Holder said, “Federal law already guarantees access to DNA evidence held by the federal government under specific conditions, and I hope that all states will follow the federal government’s lead on this issue regardless of what the Supreme Court has said.”
Here's a brief excerpt from Holder's speech:
I have also called upon the Department to focus on another part of the criminal justice system: the very difficult issue of indigent defense. Putting politics aside, we must address the fact that there is a crisis within our nation’s system of indigent defense. Resources for public defender programs lag far behind other justice system programs, constituting only about 3% of all criminal justice expenditures in our nation’s largest counties. In many cases, contract attorneys and assigned lawyers receive compensation that does not even cover their overhead. Defenders in many jurisdictions carry huge caseloads that make it difficult for them to fulfill their legal and ethical responsibilities to their clients. And we often hear of lawyers who cannot interview their clients properly, file appropriate motions, conduct fact investigations, or do many of the other things an attorney should be able to do as a matter of course.
This growing crisis is troubling not just because of the government’s constitutional duty to ensure the right to counsel. When defendants fail to receive competent legal representation, their cases are vulnerable to costly, and time-consuming, mistakes. Lawyers on both sides can spend years dealing with appeals arising from technical infractions and procedural errors. When that happens, no one wins. Addressing the American Council of Chief Defenders in June, I committed to several steps to help improve the indigent defense system, including hosting a national conference with the goal of developing a set of best practices and practical solutions.
I have also made it clear that this Department of Justice will use the available data to improve our handling of the forensics sciences – such as fingerprints, trace evidence, and firearms matching. We are studying a recent report from the National Academies of Science that diagnosed problems in the use of forensics sciences and suggested ways forward, and we are working with our partners in the Executive Branch and Congress to act on the report’s insights and recommendations. Our goal is to ensure that forensic science is practiced at the highest level possible, and always in the pursuit of truth. Because we put a premium on truth-seeking and because this Administration is committed to using the best science possible whenever possible, including in criminal justice, I also believe that defendants should have access to DNA evidence in a range of circumstances. DNA testing has an unparalleled ability to exonerate the wrongfully convicted as well as to identify the guilty. Federal law already guarantees access to DNA evidence held by the federal government under specific conditions, and I hope that all states will follow the federal government’s lead on this issue regardless of what the Supreme Court has said.
An earlier speech by Holder is noted in this post.
Comments