Bring back the jury trial
JUNE 15, 2023 – The right to a trial is enshrined in the 6th Amendment, but as caseloads expanded in the era of mass incarceration, jury trials all but disappeared, as the system came to rely on guilty pleas to resolve cases. Now, the system routinely punishes those who exercise this constitutional right with a ‘trial penalty’ – the difference between the sentence attached to a plea offer versus the much greater sentence an individual may receive if convicted by a jury. This inequity prompted the formation of the Trial Penalty Coalition, a group of organizations and individuals united around ending this coercive and unjust practice. In an op-ed in The Crime Report, FJP Executive Director Miriam Krinsky explains the concerning consequences of coercive plea bargaining and the trial penalty and why we must act now to address it.
“Plea bargaining is, in theory, intended to serve as an integral part of our criminal legal system… But it too often ends up in tension with the notion of justice, punishing those who exercise their constitutional right to trial and even, at times, coercing innocent individuals to enter a plea of guilty.”
Ending cash-based jailing: a win for the constitution and public safety
MAY 19, 2023 – The Los Angeles Superior Court issued an order to end enforcement of LA’s bail schedule, a system which assigns a price to release from jail based solely on arrest charges without any regard for individualized factors including the strength of evidence, flight risk, or a person’s financial status. In an op-ed in the Daily Journal, FJP Executive Director Miriam Krinsky, UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, and retired California Courts of Appeal Senior Justice Anthony Kline explain why this decision is a victory for the people of LA and long-term public safety.
“Both arrested individuals and the broader community are safer when people can continue their lives with their families, quickly return to work, and maintain their own health until their next court appearance…. This ruling should be applauded by anyone with an interest in protecting both the Constitution and public safety.”
‘Felony murder’ laws impose punishment that doesn’t fit the crime or keep us safer
MAY 4, 2023 – As we mark five decades since the start of mass incarceration in the United States, lawmakers must confront the extreme sentencing policies that have fueled the staggering increase in our prison population. We can start by eliminating “felony murder” laws, which allow prosecutors to charge people with murder for participating in a felony that resulted in someone being killed – even if the individual did not directly cause or intend the loss of life. In an op-ed in Marketwatch, FJP Executive Director Miriam Krinsky and The Sentencing Project Co-Director of Research Nazgol Ghandnoosh explain why we must abolish ineffective and unjust felony murder statutes.
“The criminal legal system loses credibility when someone can be sentenced to life without parole for simply being in the same room as a person who took a life. It is in clear tension with how our legal system is supposed to work, where a criminal sentence is proportional to the moral weight of a crime and accounts for the actions of the individual.”
To achieve public safety, invest in communities – not cages
MARCH 25, 2023 – A dangerous and disheartening backlash to justice reform – predicated on misinformation and an effort to resurrect failed tough-on-crime tactics – has sadly led to the defeat of a ten-plus year effort to reform DC’s outdated criminal code. But as FJP Executive Director Miriam Krinsky and Communications Director Alyssa Kress explain in this op-ed in Marketwatch, creating safe and healthy communities requires embracing evidence-backed reforms that reduce incarceration rates and shift resources from punishment to prevention.
“While too many politicians give lip service to reform, those who really care about justice are doing the work, regardless of electoral consequences. We need more bold, innovative leaders willing to rethink how we achieve safety and accountability, not those who go where the wind blows and spread misinformation for political gain.”
Los Angeles’ bail schedule is unconstitutional and a threat to public safety
MARCH 12, 2023 – The Los Angeles County Superior Court has before it a case testing the constitutionality of LA’s bail schedule, which assigns a price to freedom based only on arrest charges – without accounting for the strength (or lack) of evidence, the likelihood of a person returning to court, or other individualized factors. In a Los Angeles Daily News op-ed, FJP Executive Director Miriam Krinsky, UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, and retired California Courts of Appeal Senior Justice Anthony Kline explain how the current flawed bail system harms community members and undermines public safety and why LA city and county leaders should act today to end it.
“[LA’s] bail schedule conditions freedom on nothing more than a person’s ability to pay…. This system is not only unconstitutional but also undermines public safety by inflicting vast collateral consequences on individuals, many of whom will ultimately not even be charged with a crime.”