In March, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) introduced legislation (co-sponsored by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)) to form an 18-month
National Commission on Criminal Justice. PJI and NAPSA have co-signed
a letter to Senator Webb asking that he include a review of bail reform in this commission's work. As we all know, front-end decisions have a huge impact on back-end outcomes. Pretrial justice - both release and diversion - must be a part of this national examination of policies and practices.
We are asking that all staff who work in pretrial, including program directors, consider sending a letter to the Senator as well. A template with instructions is attached for your use. We would very much like to track these efforts (letter writing) and would ask that you email pji@pretrial.org once you've sent your letter off (a copy of the letter would be great, if you can attach it to the email).
Thanks for your efforts on this front - together we can hopefully be heard.
Peter Kiers,
President
Click below to listen to an excerpt from the March 29th, 2009 edition of NPR's All Things Considered with Webb discussing the bill and why he feels it is necessary.
