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We Oppose Bill That Will Lead to Disproportionate Sentences and Over-Punishment
January 10, 2023–Due Process Institute joined the Justice Roundtable and a bipartisan coalition of organizations to express opposition to H.R. 27, the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act. The goal of this legislation is clear: to pressure prosecutors to prosecute more cases more harshly despite bipartisan concerns that the United States already incarcerates far too many people for far too long.
H.R. 27 mandates that prosecutor’s offices in jurisdictions with populations over 380,000 disclose, for enumerated offenses, information related to the number of cases referred by the police, declinations, bail requests, plea bargains, an individual’s criminal history, and convictions. It also makes this reporting a requirement for funding under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (“Byrne”) and is based on a false premise that filing more criminal charges, detaining more people pre-trial, and making fewer plea offers will make our communities safer. Finally, this bill fails to require the collection of data that would provide a robust picture of prosecutorial practices and avenues for reform.
Meanwhile, this bill does not address violent crime. It rests on the assumption that more pretrial incarceration and more prosecutions seeking harsher sentences will increase public safety. Yet there is no evidence to support this. Research by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund’s Thurgood Marshall Institute found that non-reform prosecutors, the absence of bail reform, and increased police budgets did not prevent cities from experiencing a homicide spike in 2020. A better approach to public safety would be to invest in evidence-based approaches, such as non-carceral crisis response, violence intervention, substance abuse treatment, lifting barriers to reentry for formerly-incarcerated people, and investments in education, housing, and job training.
Furthermore, transparency in criminal legal system data is critical and there should be bipartisan efforts to improve data collection around arrests, prosecutions, and convictions; however, the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act is the wrong approach to achieve these goals. All communities should be able to hold their prosecutors accountable for their policies and actions. Prosecutors should disclose a wide array of data, including the demographics of those they prosecute. Experts have offered valuable models for how prosecutors can collect, monitor, and share data with their communities to improve safety, fairness, and equity. Yet this bill fails to require reporting of critical data needed to provide a full and accurate picture of prosecutorial practices.
As a result, the bill would not only not result in real accountability, but compliance would also come at the expense of reforms that are more likely to contribute to public safety. For all these listed reasons, we urge Representatives to oppose H.R. 27, the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act.
We Urge Congress to Increase Prosecutorial Accountability
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.
We Endorse Bipartisan Bill to Increase Prosecutorial Accountability
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.
We Lead Effort to Defeat Amendment That Undermines Accountability for the Department of Justice
June 25, 2020–On the eve of the committee vote for the Inspector General Access Act, it was discovered that an amendment was proposed that would weaken this legislation’s pursuit of accountability at a time when our nation needs it most. Due Process Institute partnered with FreedomWorks and other groups to urge Senate Judiciary Committee members to oppose the amendment and support the underlying legislation. During the bill’s markup, this amendment was overwhelmingly defeated and the Act as been advanced to the Senate floor. Now we need a vote! #Accountability
We Urge Immediate Passage of Law to Increase Accountability for Misconduct by Federal Prosecutors
June 3, 2020–During this time of national crisis, Due Process Institute is working hard to pass laws that would increase accountability of the people in our criminal legal system who wield so much power. As part of that effort, we urge the Senate to pass the bipartisan-supported Inspector General Access Act of 2019 (S. 685), which has already passed the House of Representatives.
Unlike most other federal agencies with inspectors general (IG), the Department of Justice’s IG does not have the authority to investigate matters of alleged professional misconduct by its own attorneys–including prosecutors. Instead, investigations into a federal prosecutor’s misconduct are handled by an internal process with no real independence from the attorneys it is investigating. While there are many well-documented instances of clear and egregious prosecutorial misconduct, these instances have been paired with relatively little accountability.
Without meaningful independent oversight, there is little public accountability for Justice Department prosecutors who engage in reckless or willful misconduct–including the violation of Constitutional rights. We urge the Senate to act quickly to pass this bill as a step toward restoring the public’s faith in the rule of law.
DPI Advocates for Inspector General Oversight of DOJ Attorneys To Increase Their Accountability
October 16, 2019–Due Process Institute joins a bipartisan coalition of advocates who support the Inspector General Access Act (S. 685). This bill would shift investigations of professional responsibility to the Department of Justice’s Inspector General, rather than the current DOJ apparatus that exists today, which is internal to the department. This independent oversight would be more effective in ensuring that the attorneys representing the federal government are held to high standards for professional conduct. The House companion bill has already passed in that chamber.