Tag: James Sensenbrenner

Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), current Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, has always struck me as a public menace. He's now advocating more mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Other Republicans are joining him.

If you don't remember Sensenbrenner from 2004- 2005, when he was Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, here are some of his dooziest proposals:[More...]

Newt Gingrich, who in 1994 gave us his Contract on America, which included a draconian ten point crime bill called the Taking Back Our Streets Act is now switching horses, joining the newly founded conservative group Right on Crime, that advocates for prison reform and reducing our reliance on incarceration as a cost-savings measure.

Right on Crime has a spiffy new website. It's a project of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a research institute in Austin, TX "committed to limited government, free markets, private property rights, individual liberty and personal responsibility."

The Libertarians have often been our allies in the fight to be smart about crime instead of tough on crime. When criminal defense lawyers fought Newt's 1994 Contract, where did we find help lobbying against the provisions that would have applied the good faith exception to warrantless searches and restricted habeas petitions? From the Second Amendment groups. [More...]

The worst news yet about the Republicans gaining control of the House: Uber-crime warrior James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) has been named Chair of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

What a joke considering the purpose of the Judiciary committee:

“The House Judiciary Committee is often referred to as the guardian of the Constitution. Our members have a solemn duty to protect the principles of liberty, equality and justice for all Americans.

Sensenbrenner is a menace. He's a one-man disaster for justice. Examples: His 2005 "five years for passing a joint" bill ", officially called the "Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act of 2005", H.R. 1528. It created a new group of mandatory minimum penalties for non-violent drug offenses, including a five year penalty for passing a joint to someone who's been in drug treatment.

It was also a "Snitch or Go to Jail bill", providing for a two year jail sentence if you observe or come across information about drug distribution near colleges and do not report it to authorities within 24 hours and provide full assistance investigating, apprehending, and prosecuting those involved. [More...]