Criminal Justice
Task Force Description
Currently, nearly one in every 100 American adults is behind bars and once released from prison more than four in ten return within three years. This failing system costs federal, state, and local governments approximately $85 billion, yet does not deliver adequate public safety results for taxpayers, victims, and individuals. In addition, our current criminal justice system places tremendous human costs on society. These rates of incarceration and recidivism have a tremendously negative impact on individuals, communities, and families.
In response, the American Legislative Exchange Council began its work in criminal justice and aimed to advance proven criminal justice reforms based on over two decades of data-driven research and practice.
Members of the Criminal Justice Task Force advance solutions that refocus criminal justice resources on dangerous individuals and put the right programs in place to hold those who commit nonviolent offenses accountable while providing them with the resources they need to successfully reenter society. The Criminal Justice Task Force focuses on: corrections and reentry, pretrial release, overcriminalization, sentencing reform, and transparency and accountability within the criminal justice system.
All Model Policies
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Record Expungement Act Final
Section 1. Expungement of Other Convictions (1) Except as otherwise provided in this act, a person who is convicted of 1 or more criminal offenses may file an application with the convicting court for the entry of an order setting aside 1 or more convictions as follows: (a)…
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Resolution on Mental Health and Criminal Justice Final
WHEREAS, violent crime and suicide have significantly increased since 2020 and, though numerous factors still being studied are likely contributing factors, a rise in mental health problems has been linked to both the pandemic and restrictions imposed in response to it; and WHREAS, research shows,…
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Resolution in Support of Effective Strategies to Support Law Enforcement and Reduce Violent Crime Final
WHEREAS, the United States is in the midst of a troubling crime wave. 2019 to 2020 saw the single largest year-to-year increase in murders in our nation’s history, a trend that continued into 2021. Many jurisdictions, such as Chicago, New Orleans, Washington DC, and Philadelphia, have seen carjackings double, triple,…
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Act to Prepare Inmates for Re-entry and the Workforce Final
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF __________: Section 1. (A) When any inmate shall be discharged from a term of imprisonment for a felony offense and the intended residence designated by the inmate is within this state, the Department of Corrections shall provide the inmate with…
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Resolution on Ensuring the Constitutional Right to Trial by Ameliorating the Trial Penalty Final
WHEREAS the power to prosecute, imprison, and restrict liberty is the most coercive power that the government regularly exercises against its citizens; WHEREAS the Framers considered the right to trial by jury to be necessary to preserve and protect individual liberty and to restrain government tyranny; WHEREAS the Framers considered…
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Child Protection Investigations Reform Act Final
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT relating to notifying a person accused of child abuse or neglect of the person’s rights in connection with an investigation conducted by the Department of Family and Protective Services [or replace with appropriate name of state child welfare agency]. BE IT ENACTED BY…