Dem-Back Bill Would Require Judges To Consider Race When Dishing Out Prison Sentences
Ireland Walker on July 10, 2023
California lawmakers are considering a bill that would require judges to consider a person’s race when deciding how long to sentence them to prison, Fox News reported.
The bill, which was introduced in February by Democratic Assembly Member Reggie Jones-Sawyer, was approved by the state Assembly in May and is currently being debated in the state Senate, according to Fox News. Assembly Bill 852 would add a section to the California Penal Code requiring courts, when they have the power to decide a prison sentence, to take into account how racial minorities have been affected differently than others in order to “rectify racial bias.”
“It is the intent of the Legislature to rectify the racial bias that has historically permeated our criminal justice system as documented by the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans,” the proposed section reads. “Whenever the court has discretion to determine the appropriate sentence according to relevant statutes and the sentencing rules of the Judicial Council, the court presiding over a criminal matter shall consider the disparate impact on historically disenfranchised and system-impacted populations.”
The task force, which was created from legislation signed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020, published its recommendations in June, Fox News reported. The state legislature will debate whether to implement them.
Jones-Sawyer is a member of the reparations task force, according to NBC News.
Eligible black California residents could receive more than $115,000, or roughly $2,352 per year of residency from 1971 to 2020, in compensation for excessive policing and felony drug arrests, as well as disproportionate incarceration during the alleged war on drugs, Fox News reported.
Jones-Sawyer did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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