HB 6895, An Act Concerning a Study of the Criminal Laws of This State, and SB 1212, An Act Concerning a Study of the Criminal Procedure Laws of This State

One of the reasons that mass incarceration has proliferated over the past forty years is that there are more criminal laws on the books criminalizing a wider variety of behavior than has ever
been criminalized before. Making sure our criminal law and procedure statutes are kept modern and reflect our current societal values — including an ever-growing recognition from people of all political beliefs that mass incarceration is not effective — is important work. We support S.B. 1212 and H.B. 6895 which prescribe those kinds of reviews and provide an important chance to modernize and prune our criminal statutes.