Read the original story on PennLive.com By Jan Murphy | [email protected] Legislation that would help to ease state inmates’ transition into society and give them an opportunity to get out sooner, won passage in the state House of Representatives on Wednesday. One bill would require the state to assist inmates in obtaining identification before leaving prison […]

The Feb. 20 front-page article about efforts to undo parole and sentencing reforms in Louisiana, based on the highly unlikely premise that our rapidly aging prison populations will repeat their crimes even after decades in prison, struck close to home [“La. GOP works to undo prison system changes”]. In Virginia, George Allen’s 1994 signature campaign issue was to abolish parole, in favor of “truth in sentencing.” The actual “truth” back then, as future Justice Antonin Scalia testified to Congress as chair of the Administrative Conference of the United States in 1973, was that courts heavied up on sentences to accommodate the then-realistic chances of parole — anticipating “that a prisoner who demonstrates his desire for rehabilitation will not serve the maximum term or anything approaching the maximum.”

In reaction to increased violence in some American cities this summer, we’re witnessing the old familiar responses. As Chicago experienced record murders, President Donald Trump announced he would send in federal forces while the city’s police department sought to flood neighborhoods with cops. But these policing-focused efforts will not stop the cycle of violence so that everyone is safe. No one understands this better than the people who live in the communities that actually face the violence ― including those, like me, who have been victims.

The Odessa American: We have an opportunity for state leaders, community health officials and crime victims to partner in launching centers that help ensure our communities are safe and healthy. We achieve that when survivors can access the resources and support they need to recover.

The Hill: While political morass in Washington has our federal government shut down with no end in sight, something special and far different has been happening in Florida.

A referendum on the November ballot in Florida would re-enfranchise 1.5 million citizens — and could change the state’s electorate.

Slate: How the rest of the country can take the Sunshine State’s lead and embrace second-chance criminal justice reform

The Columbus Dispatch: Hundreds of survivors of crime gathered Wednesday at the Statehouse for Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice’s inaugural “Survivors Speak Ohio” event to advocate for criminal-justice reform and help for crime victims.

The New York Times: In less than a decade, California has gone from being a standard-bearer for the ills of prison overcrowding to a national exemplar of reform, letting tens of thousands of people out of prison and reducing penalties for many crimes.

John Legend, singer, songwriter and activist, takes the stage at MAKERS Conference and leads a panel on criminal justice reform featuring Lenore Anderson, Executive Director, Californians for Safety & Justice, and Malika Saada Saar, Senior Counsel on Civil & Human Rights, Google and Robert Rooks, VP, Alliance for Safety & Justice.

The New York Times: Sending more people to prison, deporting illegal immigrants, cracking down on marijuana use — those are some of the things the Trump administration has said will make America safer.

Our Quad Cities: On Friday, Governor Bruce Rauner signed Senate Bill 2872, the Neighborhood Safety Act, into law. This law is aimed at stoping the cycle of crime by expanding access to trauma recovery services for crime victims, incentivizing inmates to participate in rehabilitation programs including life skills, job training and substance abuse treatment, and expanding judicial discretion for some sentencing decisions.

The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio will follow California as the second state to offer a network of support services to victims of violent crime, including sexual assault and human trafficking, in a partnership between hospitals and victim services agencies.

The Hill: Within hours of coming into office, the Trump Administration changed content on The White House website, including pages related to critical public safety issues.

Cleveland.com: Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is awarding $2.6 million to create a network of five trauma recovery centers aimed at helping victims of violence recover and access the services they need.

Central Illinois Proud: Legislators calling for fewer inmates and more help for those behind bars.

Chicago Tonight: On Oct. 21, Lisa Daniels sat inside the Markham County Courthouse awaiting the plea hearing of Michael Reed, the man who fatally shot her 25-year-old son, Darren Easterling, in 2012.

Peoria Public Radio: A new survey argues criminals should get rehabilitation rather than punishment.

The Marshall Project: Seven years ago, I was shot. Twice.

Fox 39: The survey by the Alliance for Safety and Justice (ASJ) finds that, despite popular assumptions on prison sentences, crime victims favor shorter prison sentences in Illinois, and investment more on education and rehabilitation rather than prisons and jails.

Governing: The election of Donald Trump, who ran on a platform that promoted myths about crime and criminal-justice policy, has left many communities and advocates of justice reform grappling with what it all means.

TRUTH-OUT: We all know an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

OZY: Her 20-year-old son was dead, his murder related to his suspected gang activity. He’d been shot in the face and chest in an alley in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago. But three days later, rather than blame his killer, or encourage vengeance, Doris Hernandez did what might sound like the unthinkable: She forgave her son’s murderer — publicly.

Philanthropy News Digest: The 2016 election campaign season has exposed the deep and bitter divides in our political system. Candidates have put forth vastly different views, and the list of what they agree on seems to be getting shorter by the day. Yet criminal justice reform has become that rare thing — an issue on which many Democrats and Republicans can agree.

Huffington Post: Change has come to the criminal justice system in America’s most populous state. California’s arrest rate last year dropped to its lowest level ever recorded, the result of a voter-approved initiative to reclassify several nonviolent felonies as misdemeanors.

Governing: As policymakers in state capitols and on Capitol Hill debate criminal justice reform, it’s worth considering who crime victims are and their views on laws meant to punish those who do them harm. A pair of national surveys sheds some light on the issue. The Justice GOVERNING: Department’s annual National Crime Victimization Survey reports detailed data on various types of crimes and their victims. Another recent survey, commissioned by the Alliance for Safety and Justice (ASJ), provides…

Washington Examiner: Often, when criminal justice reformers advocate rehabilitation and treatment programs over more prison time for certain offenders, the response goes something like this: “Think of the victims. If you or your child or someone you love had been hurt, you’d want the criminal to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, wouldn’t you?”

Cleveland 19 News (CBS): The Alliance for Safety and Justice interviewed 800 crime survivors across the country, victims of non-violent and violent crimes…

Public Welfare Foundation: In April, about 500 people gathered at the Convention Center in downtown Sacramento, California for the annual Survivors Speak Conference. The conference, organized by Californians for Safety and Justice (CSJ), a Public Welfare Foundation grantee, has become an important measure of the increasing recognition that crime survivors should be…

Washington Post: A first-of-its-kind national survey finds that victims of crime say they want to see shorter prison sentences, less spending on prisons and a greater focus on the rehabilitation of criminals. Washington Post: The survey, conducted in April and released Thursday by the Alliance for Safety and Justice, a criminal justice reform group, polled the attitudes and beliefs of more 800 crime victims pooled from…

Urban Institute: Despite billions of dollars spent annually at the federal, state, and local levels, our correctional system continues to fail us in critical ways. It falls short not just in protecting public safety, but also in restoring the well-being of victims of crime…