Justice Reinvestment Package

After a great deal of political maneuvering, the General Assembly passed a package of bills aimed at improving the criminal justice system. The bills sprang from the Governor's Justice Reinvestment Working Group, and followed nearly a year's worth of collaborative work between government officials and community advocates. Last year, the bills passed the Senate unanimously but were killed in the House. This year, the House agreed to pass the package, but only in significantly watered down form. While the passage of the bills represents a modest step forward in criminal justice reform, it is far less than what many advocates hoped for and what even red states across the country are enacting.