A lot of compliments coming U.S. Sen. Mike Lee’s way after Congress passed a major federal criminal justice reform bill.
And Lee deserves them for his sponsorship and driving force behind the changes.
The thing is, Utah itself did these things four years ago.
And something like 38 other states have done criminal justice reform in some manner, says Utah Rep. Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns, the man given credit for pushing Utah’s reforms.
The holistic reform in Utah is now winning praise from various national criminal justice experts – including the federal Justice Department.
At a National Conference of State Legislatures meeting several weeks ago, Hutchings tells me, Utah was singled out by DOJ presenters as leading the way in such reforms.
While there were a number of physically large reform bills passed by the 2014 Legislature, Hutchings says they can be boiled down to doing several things:
First, Utah justice officials put in place a system that generally divided those charged with crimes into to two groups – those who committed crimes because they were mentally ill and/or addicted to drugs or alcohol, and those who are basically “really just bad guys” and those who crime is their way of life, “it is their way of making a living.”
For the first group, they were diverted into various systems of treatment or help – “plea in abeyance” or drug courts etc.
For the second group, it is off to prison for a significant stay behind bars.
“We needed to separate those who we were mad at” for committing a crime from those “who we were are afraid of,” who we want separated from society.
“And it is working” in Utah, says Hutchings.
Appealing to constituents’ concerns, Congress over the years had a “lock ‘em up” mentality – reflected in the nation’s criminal justice system.
“If you went into the federal process, you were either found innocent or law demanded you were locked up for a long time,” says Hutchings.
And if county and state prosecutors found a problem with their cases, they pushed them up to the feds to try the case. “That has happened all the time,” Hutchings has observed.
Now there are more options at the state level, and Hutchings believes more real justice.
“Our aim” in Utah “is to have swift, certain and appropriate justice. And I think we’re doing it.”
Especially for younger, troubled offenders, a Utah goal is to get “justice” to them quickly.
If someone is caught carrying illegal drugs, waiting six months before they ever even see a judge puts off the seriousness of their offense – the cause and effect — believes Hutchings.
It helps, of course, that Utah officials can prove to lawmakers that criminal justice reforms saves taxpayers’ dollars.
The new prison is an example, as fewer cells are being built, but more rehabilitation space (job training, etc.), is being developed.
If the states, with Utah leading the way in many respects, hadn’t gone through criminal justice reform, proving the benefits, Hutchings doubts Congress – no matter how hard Lee pushed – would have passed Lee’s bill this week.
“I give Lee a lot of kudos” for leading the federal level justice reform, says Hutchings.
“But I doubt he could have gotten there without the states, and Utah, going first.”
