Down to the Wire: Tell the Senate to Create a Criminal Justice Commission

by Matt Kelley · 2010-11-16 07:38:00 UTC
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Today's the day to give one last push in the effort to form a national criminal justice commission to examine our broken system and recommend reforms.

The lame ducks returned to Washington, D.C., yesterday and the bill that Sen. Jim Webb has been pushing for two years has just a few days to pass. It passed the House this spring, and if it doesn't get called for a vote before the Senate goes home, it will need to reintroduced next year in a less friendly chamber.

You've heard about this bill in this space over recent months, and today criminal justice organizations across the country are calling on supporters to flood the offices of both the Senate minority and majority leaders alike with phone calls and e-mails, urging them to call this bill -- S. 714 -- for a vote.

Please take 60 seconds today to contact Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to ask them to call this bill for a vote. E-mail  them now or call their offices at the numbers below.

Sen. Harry Reid (NV): 202-224-3542

Sen. Mitch McConnell (KY): 202-224-3135

The proposed bipartisan commission would examine our spectacular failure of a criminal justice system, taking a critical eye to everything from sentencing to prison conditions to law enforcement procedures, with (we can hope) an eye toward results-driven reforms. This commission could be an opening for alternatives to incarceration, more effective juvenile justice programs, safer, smaller prisons and the prevention of wrongful convictions.

Sen. Webb introduced the bill with 15 bipartisan co-sponsors and it is likely to garner support if it is called for a vote during this lame-duck session. Please join me in taking action today -- please call or write Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell today and urge them to bring The National Criminal Justice Commission Act (S. 714) up for a vote.

Photo Credit: takomabibelot

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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