The Tennessee Joint House and Senate Black Caucus have released a bipartisan package for criminal justice reform. Caucus members identified sentencing and rehabilitation, discrimination by law enforcement, and re-entry as three key areas of focus.
State Senator Lee Harris
“This legislative package from the Black Caucus is about changing our criminal justice system to rebuild lives torn apart by crime, drugs, and systemic injustice,” state Rep. Brenda Gilmore said in a statement.
Among the 11 proposals from the Caucus are legislation to remove the $350 fee required to expunge criminal records, add certain property thefts to the list of offenses that can be expunged, and remove conviction-related questions on job applications for employment with certain job agencies and political subdivisions. Additionally, the legislation would prohibit state employers, under certain circumstances, from asking about an applicant’s criminal record on an initial application.
“We have too many Tennesseans wasting away in jail for non-violent, minor crimes that involve either drugs or simply an inability to pay fines,” Senate Minority Leader Lee Harris said in a statement. “By and large, these crimes disproportionately affect black Tennesseans. It is an injustice when lives are irreversibly ruined by crimes of substance abuse and crimes of poverty.”
Tennessee’s adult recidivism rate was 46.5 percent in 2009, according to research conducted by a subcabinet for Gov. Bill Haslam in 2012. The subcabinet found that services and resources are hard to access for inmates reentering communities after leaving prison. And, targeted to the right offenders, drug treatment programs can reduce addiction, halt crime, and save state and local communities incarceration costs.
Gov. Haslam’s recently released Public Safety Act of 2016 includes plans to reduce recidivism through drug treatment — as well as develop alternatives to prison sentences for nonviolent offenders wrestling with addiction and mental health issues.
In an effort to build upon Gov. Haslam’s bill, The Black Caucus wrote a letter to the governor urging his support for various reforms. This includes a rise in expungement values to mirror Haslam’s proposed threshold increase for property theft. The Caucus also proposed that violations of drug-free school zones that occur when schools are not in session for five or more consecutive days are not subject to enhanced and mandatory minimum sentences.
“Gov. Haslam has put together a well-intentioned legislative package for criminal justice reform, but it’s just a start,” Rep. Gilmore said. “We need a comprehensive program.”