April 28, 2022--Due Process Institute joined a coalition of leading law enforcement, faith-based, civil rights, conservative & progressive organizations to urge the Senate to bring the EQUAL Act to a floor vote. This legislation would finally and fully eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses at the federal level and would allow courts to consider applications for resentencing of past cases.

The current 18-to-1 disparity is not grounded in science; crack and powder cocaine are two forms of the same drug, and one is no more harmful than the other. Roughly 90 percent of individuals incarcerated for crack offenses at the federal level are Black evidencing one of the worst racial injustices in federal law. The impact of this disparity is pervasive and offers no benefit to public safety. For these reasons, the EQUAL Act enjoys broad bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, as well as unprecedented endorsements from national and local law enforcement, conservative groups, faith leaders, and civil rights organizations.

The EQUAL Act corrects misguided policy from 35 years ago and would continue the important bipartisan progress Congress has made to create a fairer and more effective federal justice system. We urge the advancement of the EQUAL Act to the Senate floor as soon as possible, as the Senate considers bipartisan criminal justice reforms. 

April 19, 2022--Due Process Institute and a diverse group of organizations working to safeguard and strengthen our democratic urged Senators to support including National Emergencies Act (NEA) reform, specifically the inclusion of the ARTICLE ONE Act (S. 764), in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The ARTICLE ONE Act would establish a necessary, meaningful check on the president’s use of emergency powers, while maintaining flexibility for the president when needed most – in the  immediate aftermath of a crisis. The bill would create a 30-day window for Congressional approval of any declared national emergency and significantly enhance reporting requirements in order to keep Congress better informed about how the president uses emergency powers.

These reforms are critical to preventing abuses of emergency powers that could be disastrous for our democracy, irrespective of who occupies the White House. In addition to being harmful to our constitutional order, such abuses of emergency power can undermine basic liberties, particularly those of minorities and other vulnerable communities. With the ARTICLE ONE Act, the Senate has the opportunity to advance the most significant recalibration of the balance of power between the president and Congress in four decades, and to do so in a bipartisan manner.

April 4, 2022--Due Process Institute wrote to House Judiciary Committee members to vote in favor of the Kenneth P. Thompson Begin Again Act (H.R. 1924), a bill designed to improve expungement opportunities and second chances. Currently, there is only one very limited expungement statute—18 U.S.C. §  3607(c)—which potentially allows a person to expunge a first-time charge of simple possession of a controlled substance under 21 U.S.C. § 844. Under this law, a first-time offender can seek prejudgment probation for up to a year and, if they comply with all probation conditions during that time, they may seek dismissal of the federal possession  charge and therefore avoid conviction. Then, those under the age of 21 can seek expungement of records associated with the offense after successful completion of  probation. Obviously, this age limitation in current federal law prevents many others who are facing first-time simple possession charges from expunging their records. The Begin Again Act (H.R. 1924 and S. 2502) would amend current law to remove the age cap and thus expand the availability of record expungement to any person charged with their first offense of simple possession who has successfully completed prejudgment probation regardless of their age.

You can read more on this issue in our recent blog post. 

March 28, 2022--Due Process Institute led a bipartisan coalition calling on members of the House of Representatives to vote for the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act (H.R. 1621) and end the unjust practice of judges increasing sentences based on conduct for which a person has been acquitted (or found “not guilty”) by a jury.

The Fifth and Sixth Amendment guarantees of due process and the right to trial by jury are fundamental to our criminal justice system. These guarantees require the government to prove a person’s guilt to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt unless a person voluntarily pleads guilty. Despite this, current federal law allows judges to override a jury’s “not guilty” verdict by sentencing someone for the very conduct he or she was acquitted of by the jury. Permitting this kind of “acquitted conduct sentencing” is unjust, undermines due process, and subverts the critical function of jury trials in our legal system. It also contributes significantly to the phenomenon of people pleading guilty to crimes they did not commit—something that everyone wishes to prevent in our system. 

Not surprisingly, the practice of acquitted conduct sentencing has been roundly criticized by judges and scholars from all backgrounds and political beliefs for many decades. In his dissent from the denial of certiorari in Jones v. United States (2014), Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, “This has gone on long enough.” Scalia was joined in his dissent by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

You can also read more on our #JuriesDecide campaign to end acquitted conduct sentencing here.

March 18, 2022--Due Process Institute and civil liberties organizations from across the political spectrum expressed urgent concerns regarding recently declassified documents that confirm the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) currently operates at least two bulk collection programs, both with significant impacts on the privacy of U.S. persons and other people in the United States.   

On February 10, the CIA released documents pertaining to two reports authored by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), titled “Deep Dive I” and “Deep Dive II.” Both reports reveal CIA activities that involve bulk collection, result in the acquisition of U.S. person information, and have been operational for years. According to the CIA, the programs are directed at the activities of foreign governments and foreign nationals, but PCLOB’s reporting and recommendations show that they significantly affect Americans. The surveillance described in Deep Dive I includes the bulk acquisition of financial transactions involving Americans and others. For Deep Dive II, however, the CIA has disclosed neither what type of information it is collecting in bulk nor for what purpose.

These bulk spying programs carried out by the CIA show that current law does not adequately protect Americans from bulk surveillance. Given the breadth of this type of surveillance and its roots in an unaccountable claim of inherent presidential power, Congress must act now or risk diminishing its own power to conduct intelligence oversight and to establish the rules governing intelligence surveillance of Americans.  

Congress must also enact legislation to ensure that any surveillance resulting in the collection of Americans’ personal data is subject to statutory limits and judicial review. The only way to accomplish this is to set forth specific rules that are the “exclusive means” by which the government may acquire the information of U.S. persons. The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (S.1265/H.R.2738), currently the only pending legislation that includes “exclusive means” language, would bar federal agencies from purchasing, without a warrant, sensitive data that if acquired directly would require the government to first obtain a court order.  

March 4, 2022--Due Process Institute and 35 other organizations joined to urge the Committee on House Administration to address a gap in public access to public records held by the Office of the Clerk. The Clerk manages the Legislative Resource Center (LRC), which makes available lobbying disclosure filings, other public disclosure forms from all House Officers, Members, and staff, and other records. While some of those records are available online, others are not, including Legal Expense Fund Disclosures. The House of Representatives has been closed to the public for nearly two years, impeding public access to these records and undermining the purpose of public disclosure. 

Many documents maintained by the Clerk within the LRC are in digital form but are not available online. Instead, requesters must use a terminal located in the LRC and print out the records — it is not currently possible to make an electronic copy. While this practice may have been reasonable when it was instituted, its consequences are two fold. First, most members of the public and press must go to the office to access these documents, which in normal circumstances limits access to those in Washington, D.C. and in COVID times restricts access further. Second, paid services such as printing, scanning, and digitizing the documents create unequal access for those who can afford the costs. We urge the Clerk to avoid these perverse results by examining how to make these public documents available online in a user-friendly format and providing a plan of action for review and implementation. 

February 17, 2022--Due Process Institute joined nine other leading prison reform, civil rights, and law enforcement organizations to applaud the formation of the bipartisan Senate Prison Policy Working Group. Led by Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Mike Braun (R-IN), the group will work to develop bipartisan policies and proposals to strengthen oversight of the Federal prison system and improve communication between the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Congress, and other stakeholders.   

“We are excited to see the formation of a bipartisan Prison Policy Working Group and strongly urge Republicans and Democrats to join this important group of members who are working to improve the Bureau of Prisons. Nearly three years after the passage of the First Step Act, it’s clear there is still much work to be done to increase transparency, efficiency, and fairness and the COVID-19 pandemic magnified the long-existing underutilization of compassionate release,” said Jason Pye, Director of Rule of Law Initiatives. 

“Due Process Institute looks forward to working with the members of the Prison Policy Working Group to improve the way our federal corrections system operates.” 

 February 14, 2022--Due Process Institute applauds the IRS and Treasury for the decision to end the use of ID.me in response to concerns raised by privacy experts, lawmakers, and the public. Along with numerous privacy and civil liberties organizations, we now call on other federal and state government agencies using or considering use of ID.me to follow suit and cancel the use of ID.me and other facial verification tools. Facial recognition technology has been found to be biased, have a disproportionate impact on people of color and other marginalized communities, and the use of the technology has serious implications for privacy and civil liberties. This third-party technology should not be forced upon individuals by government agencies.

The issues described above are all exacerbated by one simple fact: There is no comprehensive law regulating the collection, use, disclosure, and retention of biometric data. This alone should have stopped any government agency in its track when it considered the use of facial verification. Facial recognition is a powerful technology that has serious potential for bias as well as significant implications for our privacy and civil liberties. As a result, the safest and best “option” is for federal and state government agencies to end their use of this perilous technology on the public – through ID.me or any other vendor.

February 9, 2022--Due Process Institute and a bipartisan coalition expressed strong opposition to the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2022 (EARN IT, S. 3538). While we support curbing the scourge of child exploitation online, EARN IT will actually make it harder for law enforcement to protect children, will result in online censorship that disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, and will jeopardize access to encrypted services.

Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 230) generally shields online intermediaries from liability for the content users convey on their platforms. This helps to promote free expression online, which is further supported by the use of strong end-to-end encryption. But EARN IT would vastly expand the liability risk of hosting or facilitating user-generated content by permitting states to impose criminal liability when providers are “reckless” or “negligent” in keeping CSAM off their platforms; EARN IT also exposes them to civil liability under state laws with similar mens rea requirements but subject to much lower standards of proof. 

The EARN IT Act would have devastating consequences for everyone’s ability to share and access information online, and to do so in a secure manner. We urge Congress to oppose this bill and instead consider more tailored approaches to deal with the real harms of child sexual abuse material online.

January 26, 2022--Due Process Institute and 50 civil liberties and privacy groups urged Senate and House leaders to hold committee hearings on the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (S.1265/H.R. 2738). Currently, this legislation enjoys bipartisan support in both chambers due to the disturbing practices of government agencies, ranging from the Internal Revenue Service to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Customs and Border Protection.  These entities allege they can lawfully avoid the constitutional requirement for probable cause warrants by simply buying our personal information from commercial data brokers. The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act would close the statutory loopholes that allow the government to bypass the constitutional protections of the First and Fourth Amendment. 

Furthermore, most Americans are still unaware of this commonplace practice by intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Holding committee hearings on this legislation would help underscore this disturbing fact, inform the American public about the desperate need for privacy protections, and build momentum for this legislation. 

December 21, 2021--Due Process Institute joined seven other civil liberties organizations calling on Rep. Jerry Nadler, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to hold hearings for the bipartisan Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (H.R. 2738) in this coming session.  

Currently, intelligence and law enforcement agencies, from the Internal Revenue Service to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Customs and Border Protection, allege they can lawfully avoid the constitutional requirement for probable cause warrants by simply buying our personal information from commercial data brokers because the relevant federal statutes do not specifically prohibit such actions.  

As a result, data from apps most Americans routinely use are open to warrantless examination by the government and are unaware that the government can obtain personal information by simply opening the federal wallet. These practices are clearly offensive to the spirit of the Constitution and threaten First and Fourth Amendment rights of every American.

But without a hearing to drive the news, most Americans will never know how seriously their privacy has been compromised. Hearings held in the House Judiciary Committee would underscore these disturbing facts, inform the American public, and create the momentum needed to turn The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act into law.

December 9, 2021--Due Process Institute and a wide array of organizations joined together to demand greater transparency in the legislative process by improving public access to bills and amendments considered on the Senate floor. Currently, the Congressional Record is only published each day after the conclusion of legislative proceedings and thereby provides a retrospective look at what happened. In circumstances where bills or amendments were offered on the same day they were considered, there is no systematic concurrent public availability of the text with the deliberations.   

Congressional offices, the public, and the press need greater assistance with tracking and accessing bills and amendments set for debate on the Senate floor. In the modern era, this suggests contemporaneous online availability of the text of legislation and amendments and improved archival access. The Senate should consider a multi-pronged approach to addressing these issues by reviewing the current mechanism used to publish this information internally, the fitnesses and adaptability of technologies used in the House, and an exploration of technologies and tools currently employed inside the Legislative branch (such as Congress.gov) as well as those in other legislatures. Furthermore, Congress should examine the extent to which the text of legislation and amendments printed in the Congressional Record also are contemporaneously published on Congress.gov and an exploration of the various points in the legislative process where bill text and amendments exist in final form.  

July 26, 2021--Due Process Institute joined a letter to urge all members of the House of Representatives to support the Lofgren-Massie amendment offered to H.R. 4505, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 2022. This amendment would prohibit the use of funds for the warrantless search of United States persons’ communications acquired under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), the controversial foreign intelligence authority that acquires an untold number of Americans’ Fourth Amendment protected information.

According to one opinion, the FBI, over the course of one year, conducted three million queries of a single database containing Section 702 communications, most of which presumably were U.S. person queries in light of the FBI’s primarily domestic mission. Although Congress has required the FBI to obtain a FISC order for a small subset of these queries, the FISC found that the FBI has literally never complied with this statutory requirement and has violated it on at least dozens of occasions. Ending this unconstitutional practice is imperative to ensure that foreign intelligence surveillance does not swallow Americans’ privacy rights. 

July 21, 2021--Due Process Institute led a bipartisan coalition urging the House Judiciary Committee to support the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law (EQUAL) Act.  The EQUAL Act (H.R. 1693) would finally and fully eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine mandatory minimum sentences at the federal level. Furthermore, the change would be made retroactive to allow those currently serving excessive sentences to petition a court for resentencing. This legislation offers a commonsense solution to a problem derived from a decades-long policy unsubstantiated by science.

As the 50th anniversary of the declaration on the War on Drugs has come and past, we must re-commit ourselves to achieving a smarter, fairer criminal justice system. National law enforcement organizations, high-ranking policing executives, and prominent conservative groups support the EQUAL Act because this type of drug abuse is a public health problem and not solely a law enforcement matter.

Finally, we are pleased to see the Committee consider this critical bill to make our federal sentencing laws more just. We hope that Chairman Nadler, Ranking Member Jordan, and all Members of Congress will reach across the aisle to support this legislation that will change lives. 

July 20, 2021--Due Process Institute joined a diverse group of organizations spanning the political spectrum to urge the House and Senate Committees on the Judiciary to consider and support The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (S.1265 / H.R.2738). Current law allows federal agencies to buy Americans’ digital data and metadata in bulk from internet marketing firms rather than obtaining court orders based on individualized probable cause.

This bipartisan legislation, recently introduced by privacy champions in both 

chambers, would greatly strengthen federal protections against this type of backdoor government snooping. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies would be prohibited from purchasing communications content, geolocation information, and other highly sensitive data. The bill also would limit the government’s ability to concoct new and constitutionally unsound workarounds in the future by establishing that the mechanisms provided in statute are the exclusive means by which the government may acquire such information about people in the United States.

July 19, 2021--Due Process Institute joined a coalition representing a broad spectrum of American life to urge President Biden to commute the sentences of people currently living in home confinement through the CARES Act but are under threat of being sent back to federal prison.

Last year, Congress passed the CARES Act which expanded the federal government’s ability to move people from federal prison to serve their sentences at home. These individuals had to meet numerous stringent requirements set by the administration to be allowed to enter home confinement, including that they will not be a risk to public safety. According to publicly available data, less than one percent have violated the terms of their release once transferred to home confinement.

Despite the successes of this program, thousands of people are now in danger of being sent back to federal prison. This is because on January 15, 2021, just five days before President Trump left office, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a memo declaring that people transferred to home confinement under the CARES Act would be sent back to prison once the national COVID emergency ended.

We urge President Biden to grant clemency now to people under CARES Act home confinement and provide second chances to thousands of people who are already safely out of prison, reintegrating back into society, reconnecting with their loved ones, getting jobs and going back to school. 

June 18, 2021--Due Process Institute joined organizations from across the political spectrum to condemn the Department of Justice’s surveillance of Members of Congress, their staff, and their families, and urge Congress to investigate this matter as well as enact substantive reforms to prevent such abuse in the future.

On June 10, the New York Times reported that in 2017 and 2018 the Justice Department seized communications records of Representatives Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, congressional staff, and family members—including a child—as part of leak investigations. This broad and intrusive  surveillance to collect private information easily leads to abuse and undermines the separation of powers.

We hope the Justice Department will show a genuine commitment to preventing future misconduct by working with Congress, as well as civil rights and civil liberties advocates, in support of new statutory reforms to surveillance and gag orders.

June 17, 2021--Due Process Institute endorses the Emergency GRACE Act of 2021 to make compassionate release more accessible for federal prisoners. The provisions of this legislation will ensure everyone incarcerated in a federal prison can apply directly to a judge for compassionate release, create a presumption of a sentence reduction, and provide $50 million for state prison systems to implement compassionate release systems. Furthermore, it will expand compassionate release opportunities for those sentenced prior to November 1987 and provide deserving candidates a chance for release.  

June 16, 2021--Due Process Institute joined a letter with bipartisan and national organizations calling for the passage of Senate Bill 817 to abolish juvenile court fees in Oregon. These fees and fines – costs and monetary sanctions imposed on youth and families for the youth’s involvement in the juvenile delinquency system – operate in part as a regressive tax but generate little to no net revenue, collecting them at low rates with high costs.

Studies consistently show that juvenile fees and fines create barriers for youth and families, trapping them in cycles of debt and court involvement. Further, fees and fines are linked to higher recidivism rates and lower positive social spending, undermining community safety and rehabilitation.  

May 19, 2021--Due Process Institute joined a bipartisan coalition urging the Colorado State Assembly to pass House Bill 1315 to end the assessment and collection of juvenile fees and costs. These fees include charges for public defender applications, genetic testing, restorative justice programs, miscellaneous court costs, late payment fees, and come with harsh penalties and other negative consequences for nonpayment.

These are a regressive tax on vulnerable Coloradans, create additional barriers for youth and families, and trap them in cycles of debt and court involvement. Furthermore, juvenile fees are linked to higher recidivism rates and undermine community safety and youth rehabilitation. By ending juvenile fees that only push youth deeper into the criminal legal system, Colorado would achieve common-sense justice reform while also benefiting from long-term fiscal savings.

May 3, 2021-- Due Process Institute urges Congress to pass the bipartisan Clean Slate Act (S. 1380 + H.R. 2864), introduced by Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) and Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), and give individuals with certain federal criminal records an opportunity for a second chance. 

An estimated 70 million Americans have a criminal record and this means as many as one in three people face obstacles to secure housing and/or employment. This legislation would provide for the automatic sealing of records for simple possession of a controlled substance under 21 U.S.C. § 844 or records for any federal nonviolent marijuana offense—one year after someone has completed his or her sentence.

The Clean Slate Act also provides a petition process for the sealing of records for certain nonviolent offenses. A person who has been convicted of two or fewer nonviolent offenses can petition a court to seal the record after completing the terms of any sentence. Individuals who have been convicted for treason, terrorism, access and transmission of sensitive information, national security-related offenses, and sex offenses would not be eligible for record sealing. 

Some states—including Pennsylvania and Utah—have already passed “Clean Slate” legislation to automatically seal records while most other states have some form of record sealing or expungement laws. Federal law is extraordinarily lacking in this area. April is “Second Chance Month”  and Congress should take this opportunity to explore ways to provide second chance opportunities to the millions of people who need a “clean slate” to move forward with their lives. 

April 29, 2021--Due Process Institute and organizations from across the political spectrum wrote to urge Congress to pass the District of Columbia National Guard Home Rule Act (S. 30 + H.R. 657), sponsored by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). Currently, a loophole in federal law allows for large-scale federalization of the National Guard to perform a domestic policing function without invoking the Insurrection Act or any other form of congressional authorization. The proposed S. 30 and H.R. 657 bills would close this loophole by reforming the command structure of the D.C. National Guard (DCNG) and transfer control over the DCNG from the president to the Mayor of Washington, D.C.

This new framework would allow the DCNG to principally operate under local control, just like every other National Guard organization in the country. Furthermore, the reforms would prevent future abuses of the president’s authority to deploy the military domestically, improve the Guard’s responsiveness to emergencies like the January 6 riot, and still preserve the president’s flexibility in a crisis. 

April 26, 2021--Due Process Institute joined a diverse and bipartisan coalition of over two dozen groups to express deep concern over reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may be contemplating regulations to prohibit menthol cigarettes. While the regulations are well-intentioned, policies that amount to prohibition for adults will have serious racial justice implications. Such a ban will trigger criminal penalties, which will disproportionately impact people of color, as well as prioritize criminalization over public health and harm reduction. A ban will also lead to unconstitutional policing and other negative interactions with local law enforcement.
 

There is a better approach that avoids this overcriminalization. We strongly support the FDA and other policymakers continuing with harm reduction policies emphasizing education for adults and minors, cessation, well-funded health care for communities of color, and other measures that push tobacco use down without putting criminal justice reform at risk. 

April 22, 2021--Due Process Institute urges Congress to pass the bipartisan Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (S. 1265) which, among other things, would greatly strengthen federal privacy protections against backdoor government snooping. Current law allows federal agencies to buy Americans’ digital data and metadata in bulk from internet marketing firms rather than obtaining court orders based on individualized probable cause.

“The speed of technological innovation far outpaces the laws and rules that protect Americans from unwarranted government intrusion,” said Due Process Institute Founder and President, Shana-Tara O’Toole, “For that reason, Congress must close the current loopholes that allow law enforcement and intelligence agencies to bypass the constitutional protections against unreasonable government searches and surveillance. The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act is an essential piece of legislation that exemplifies the Congressional diligence needed to bring our modern laws into line with our long-standing constitutional values.” 

April 12, 2021--Due Process Institute led a diverse, bipartisan coalition calling for Congress to pass the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law (EQUAL) Act. The Equal Act (S. 79, H.R. 1693) would end the federal prison sentence disparity between crack cocaine and powdered cocaine offenses, equalizing the treatment between the two in sentencing and reducing the ratio from 18:1 to 1:1. The bill would also importantly make this relief retroactive following individualized case review by federal courts in order to ensure the law has the intended restorative effects.

Furthermore, the EQUAL Act partially addresses the unjust punishments of the past and frees up resources for Congress to direct at violence reduction strategies, support for crime survivors, and other proven public safety interventions for underserved communities. We urge Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Grassley, Chairman Nadler, Ranking Member Jordan, and the members of the respective committees to take swift action in supporting and passing this legislation.  

April 1, 2021--Due Process Institute joined a bipartisan coalition calling for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to rescind a legal memo forcing the return of people serving their sentences on home confinement to federal prison. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) which allowed elderly, medically vulnerable, and low public safety risk individuals to be transferred to home confinement. However, the DOJ’s recent legal memo states the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) must re-incarcerate everyone on CARES Act home confinement at the end of the covered emergency period if they do not otherwise qualify for it. 

Adhering to this memo would be devastating for thousands of individuals who have re-established themselves in their communities, have a negative effect on public safety, and exact an enormous human cost. It would also be unsupported by law as the CARES Act neither requires nor permits the BOP to return individuals transferred to home confinement to prison absent a violation of their conditions. Allowing those on home confinement to remain on home confinement is an important step to address the toll of over-incarceration and the need to reduce the size of the federal prison population.   

March 26, 2021--Due Process Institute supported today's introduction of bipartisan legislation that would modernize federal drug sentencing policies by lowering certain mandatory drug sentences. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced The Smarter Sentencing Act, which gives federal judges the authority to conduct individualized reviews to determine the appropriate sentences for certain nonviolent drug offenses.   

March 26, 2021--Due Process Institute supported today's introduction of an important bipartisan bill to reform sentencing laws and provide other much needed reforms to our criminal legal system. Sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the First Step Implementation Act aims to further implement the First Step Act and advance its goals. The law will allow courts to apply all of the First Step Act sentencing reform provisions to reduce sentences imposed prior to the enactment of the First Step Act, including the provisions modifying the definitions of predicate prior offenses and eliminating 924c stacking. It also expands the safety valve to apply if criminal history exclusions cause over-representation of prior convictions, allow for sentence reductions for juvenile offenders who have served 20 years, provide for sealing and expungement of juvenile records, and require the Attorney General to establish procedures to ensure accurate criminal records. 

March 26, 2021--Many states suspend an individual's driving license solely because they cannot afford to pay a debt they owe their state or local court system. These policies make it more difficult for individuals to pay off that underlying debt and prevents them from maintaining stable employment. In the midst of COVID-19, these concerns are even more pressing.

Due Process Institute has joined a coalition of 20 groups working with Congressional leaders to end these problematic driver’s license policies by supporting today's reintroduction of the Driving for Opportunity Act. This bill would help states end a counterproductive practice—suspending driver’s licenses simply because people cannot satisfy a financial obligation—and to enact smart, data-driven policy on fines, fees, and driving license privileges.

March 26, 2021--Due Process Institute joined a diverse bipartisan coalition urging the Oregon State Senate to pass Senate Bill 835 and implement vital reforms to medical release laws. Currently, Oregon's medical release system is plagued by obstacles including strict eligibility requirements, categorical exclusions, and time-consuming review processes. These existing barriers have been brought into even sharper focus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the proposed reforms would introduce a common-sense and data-driven approach to ensure medical release is available to all adults in custody whose condition necessitates a safe and humane release from incarceration.  

March 26, 2021--Due Process Institute and a bipartisan coalition issued a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for reform of the federal clemency system. The existing review system is in crisis with over 15,000 petitions pending that cannot be resolved because of an overly bureaucratic process involving the Deputy Attorney General and the White House Counsel. However, the crisis can be addressed if needless bureaucracy is eliminated and the Pardon Attorney is appointed as chief of staff to an advisory board of qualified individuals charged with evaluating cases and making recommendations directly to the President. Furthermore, removing prosecutors as the principal evaluators of clemency petitions provides fresh eyes free of institutional conflict.  

Clemency petitions can play a key role in addressing long-standing racial equity concerns in the federal criminal legal system. In addition, we urge that several other categories of clemency petitions should be prioritized for review, including the elderly and chronically ill, those in prison for marijuana offenses, those currently on home confinement, women over-sentenced as "accessories" to crimes, those who have received harsh trial penalties, and those sentenced under mandatory minimum sentences. 

March 26, 2021--Due Process Institute and a group of organizations that span the ideological spectrum joined in a letter urging Chairman Durbin and Ranking Member Grassley to support and pass the Inspector General Access Act (S. 426). The bill is commonsense legislation that would make a simple yet vital revision to the Inspector General Act of 1978 and enhance the accountability of the Department of Justice (DOJ) by allowing the DOJ inspector general to investigate allegations of misconduct by federal attorneys. Under current policy and practice, alleged professional wrongdoing or misconduct by DOJ attorneys are handled by an internal and non-independent entity, the Office of Professional Responsibility.

As DOJ attorneys are among the most powerful federal employees with the ability to make life-and-death decisions, it is critical for an independent watchdog, such as an inspector general, to have the statutory authority to investigate any allegations that may call into question their actions and conduct. Passing this legislation would be an important step toward alleviating public concern around these issues and improving accountability.

March 16, 2021--Due Process Institute supported today's introduction of a bipartisan bill to expand the federal expungement law. Introduced by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Van Taylor, and joined by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), the Begin Again Act (H.R. 1924) would amend 18 U.S. Code § 3607 to make anyone, regardless of his or her age, eligible for expungement of a simple drug possession charge under 21 U.S.C. § 844. A criminal record, particularly a conviction, is a significant barrier to employment, housing, and education opportunities. Avenues to pursue record-sealing or expungement for certain offenses offer avenues of opportunity to those with a criminal record and prevent a mistake from impeding them for the rest of their lives. The bipartisan Kenneth P. Thompson Begin Again Act provides a way for all individuals, regardless of their age, to not be defined by this one conviction.   

March 15, 2021--Due Process Institute joined a bipartisan coalition calling for Congress to curb law enforcement’s power to use and abuse the practice of civil forfeiture by enacting strong reforms. With civil forfeiture, law enforcement can seize property from innocent property owners, and those innocent owners can permanently lose it to the government, without the government ever charging, much less convicting, them of a crime. It also utilizes improper financial incentives while also possessing serious procedural deficiencies that undermine the due process rights of property owners. The use of civil forfeiture is opposed by the majority of Americans, promotes negative interactions between police and communities, and does not help law enforcement in their mission.  

March 12, 2021--Due Process Institute and a bipartisan coalition joined to urge Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice to release federal inmates at greater risk of COVID-19 and health complications. Under relevant provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) can and should provide greater protection for older incarcerated individuals, expand home confinement and compassionate release to people with more time left on their sentences, and stop using infractions as an immediate disqualifier from release. Implementing these changes would allow for more at-risk individuals to qualify for release and would save countless lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

March 11, 2021--Due Process Institute supported today's introduction of bipartisan bills in both the House and Senate that would finally end the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. Introduced by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), and Don Bacon (R-NE), the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law (EQUAL) Act, S. 79 and H.R. 1693, would equalize the treatment in sentencing between crack cocaine and powdered cocaine, reducing the ratio from 18:1 to 1:1. Importantly, the bipartisan EQUAL Act would make these changes retroactive upon a motion from the defendant, the Bureau of Prisons, or a federal prosecutor.

The disparity in sentencing between crack cocaine and powdered cocaine is currently one of the most unjust aspects of federal sentencing laws. Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 to escalate the war on drugs by creating mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, including substantially harsher penalties for crack cocaine. The evidence that harsher penalties for crack cocaine have had a racially disparate outcome is overwhelming. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, 81.1 percent of individuals sentenced for crack cocaine in FY 2019 were Black while another 12.6 percent were Hispanic. Highlighting the racially disparate outcome again, 91.4 percent of individuals who received sentencing reductions as a result of the First Step Act’s retroactivity provision were Black. Although the data show a disproportionate incarceration outcome, a 2006 study published by the American Civil Liberties Union showed that Whites are actually more likely to use crack cocaine. Also, as the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality reported in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, nearly 80 percent of respondents who reported usage of crack cocaine in their lifetime were White. The devastating racial disparities in federal sentencing can no longer be ignored by Congress. It is important that Republicans and Democrats work together to correct them in the name of justice. 

March 4, 2021--Due Process Institute supported today's reintroduction of bipartisan legislation in the Senate (S. 601) that would end the federal practice of sentencing on the basis of conduct for which a jury has acquitted. We applaud Senators Durbin, Grassley, Leahy, Lee, Booker, and Tillis for their leadership on this important issue and we thank our many coalition partners for their support of this critical effort. 

March 4, 2021--Due Process Institute joins FAMM and other national criminal justice organizations urging Gov. Phil Murphy to sign a bill that would eliminate certain of the state's existing mandatory minimum sentences that has already been passed by the New Jersey legislature. 

February 24, 2021--We are thrilled that the Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Age Act (H.R. 546) passed the House with an overwhelming 414-11 vote! Thank you to everyone who helped make this bipartisan effort a success. Now on to the Senate to complete our efforts to protect the right of the incarcerated to have their e-mail communications with their lawyers protected by the attorney-client privilege (just like everyone else's is)!

February 24, 2021--We supported today's reintroduction of bipartisan legislation (S. 426) to expand the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General to include alleged DOJ attorney misconduct. Currently, the DOJ Inspector General has no authority to investigate professional misconduct of DOJ lawyers.  (Instead, allegations are handled internally by DOJ.) DOJ is the only agency whose IG has such a jurisdictional carve-out.  Due Process Institute supports the bipartisan effort, led by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mike Lee (R-UT), to end this odd loophole and increase the accountability of DOJ attorneys, including federal prosecutors.

February 15, 2021--Blockading and militarizing our nation's Capitol isn't necessary nor is it democratic. The People should have access to their center of government. We join bipartisan opposition to a proposal to hinder public access to the Capitol Building.

February 12, 2021--Amid the COVID-19 public health pandemic, we endorse today's introduction of bipartisan legislation to reform the Elderly Home Detention Pilot Program and compassionate release program for federal prisons. Hundreds of federal prisoners with pre-existing medical conditions that made them more vulnerable to COVID-19 have already died as a result of the virus, more than half of whom were over 60 years old. Since the beginning of the pandemic (as well as since the passage of the First Step Act's compassionate release reforms), the Federal Bureau of Prisons has opposed nearly all compassionate release requests. The COVID-19 Safer Detention Act (S. 312) would make several critical changes to the law that are necessary to save vulnerable lives. Due Process Institute urges its immediate passage of this important effort led by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA). 

February 12, 2021--We supported today's reintroduction of the bipartisan Smarter Pretrial Detention for Drug Charges Act (S. 309), which would eliminate the unfair blanket presumption of pretrial detention for most federal drug charges. Pretrial detention rates--meaning people kept in prison before they are proven guilty or plead guilty--are at record high levels. By removing this legal presumption, this bipartisan legislation would instead permit federal courts to make individualized determinations regarding whether pretrial detention is in fact appropriate for each person accused of a nonviolent federal drug offense. We endorse this legislation and will work tirelessly with Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Chris Coons (D-DE) to see it passed.

February 3, 2021--Due Process Institute joined a bipartisan coalition urging Members of Kentucky's House Judiciary Committee to support a bill that would increase the felony theft threshold to $1,000, better aligning it with neighboring states and accounting for inflation. Studies have shown that increased theft thresholds do not have a corresponding impact on larceny crime in states, and some states that have increased their felony theft thresholds have also seen reductions in property crimes. Low felony theft thresholds, like Kentucky’s, do not deter property crime—instead, the outdated theft threshold contributes to overcrowding in correctional facilities and burdens Kentuckians with the consequence of a felony record for decades. UPDATE: This bill passed the House.

January 29, 2021--Due Process Institute and a bipartisan coalition joined to support the Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act (H.R. 546) after its reintroduction in the House of Representatives. This bill will guarantee that email communications between an individual in a federal prison and their attorney will receive the full protections of attorney-client privilege. We urge members of the 117th Congress to cosponsor and support this important effort to ensure access to counsel throughout the federal prison system.

Due Process Institute also thanks our allies at Right on Crime, Americans for Prosperity, Faith and Freedom Coalition, Prison Fellowship, and Freedom Works for joining us in this letter.

January 21, 2021--Due Process Institute joined a bipartisan coalition of over 20 national and local groups calling on Congressional lawmakers to not create a new crime of "domestic terrorism" and to not give additional power to surveillance agencies in response to the assault on the Capitol on January 6th, 2021.

A new domestic terrorism law would allow for harmful future investigations based on political affiliation, mainly targeting marginalized communities, while law enforcement already has sufficient legal authority to charge these incidents. Furthermore, expanding surveillance was not necessary to prevent the events at the Capitol as information regarding the attack was available in the public domain and publicly on social media.  Greater surveillance powers would only lead to more invasive, unreliable, and unconstitutional methods of collecting data.

In this letter, we urge the members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to not allow the security failures that permitted the attack to be the basis for expanded police surveillance authority or for expansion of prosecutorial authority. 

January 20, 2021--This is the first change in Administration since Due Process Institute was founded and it serves as an important inflection point for our young organization. 

Despite a tumultuous environment, we are proud of our work with the outgoing Administration and a divided Congress to pass the most impactful criminal justice reform in more than a decade as well as numerous other policy achievements that protected due process and increased justice. 

We are equally proud to say that we stand ready to work with the incoming Administration and new Congress to pursue further achievements given how much there is still to be done. In fact, we have already worked as part of The Justice Roundtable—a collective of over 100 organizations working to advance justice and end systematic racism in our legal system—to draft a list of executive and legislative branch proposals for the president-elect and the incoming 117th Congress.  You may access the Transformative Justice Transition Report below. 

Bipartisan work is not easy or comfortable even under the best of circumstances. But we continue to believe that our organization’s commitment to bringing Americans together to work toward the common good is more important than ever. As we find ourselves just weeks past a violent disruption of our democracy at work, we reinforce our bipartisan focus on restoring due process rights, which serve as an integral and enduring part of our republic. We thank our Board Members, who come from a wide variety of political viewpoints, for standing with us and supporting this collective mission, and we ask that the public joins us in seeing today as a new beginning to pursue and protect the ideals that we all share.

January 6, 2021--The work of Due Process Institute focuses on restoring the protections of our unalienable rights as Americans against an overzealous government and its agents. Those due process protections are an integral part of the larger constitutional structure that give shape to our beloved republic.

Today, Congress was slated to confirm the democratic process that ensures peaceful and orderly transition of power, one of the most transformational achievements of our nation’s founding. Unfortunately, that process was violently and inexcusably disrupted by individuals who claimed they were acting on behalf of our country, but their actions discarded its most treasured values and besmirched its institutions.

Our country deserves better than what we saw on Capitol Hill earlier today. Our hearts and thanks go out to the legislators, staff, and press who are continuing to honor democracy with their service.