This report by the ACLU of Pennsylvania illustrates how the General Assembly passes duplicative offenses and harsher penalties in every legislative session. This bloating of the criminal code undermines a person's right to a fair trial and diminishes the power of judges in exchange for more power in the hands of prosecutors, who use the threat of many charges to strong arm people in plea deals.
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Pipeline of unnecessary legislation fuels mass incarceration crisis in Pennsylvania
Law enforcement and prosecutors already have all of the tools necessary to protect public safety. But over the last four decades, the Pennsylvania General Assembly has become a bipartisan offense factory, churning out hundreds of new bills each legislative session that duplicate existing law or add unnecessarily harsh new criminal penalties to our already bloated criminal code. This is the statehouse-to-prison pipeline.The ACLU of Pennsylvania tracks all criminal laws proposed or passed by lawmakers in Harrisburg for our biennial report More Law, Less Justice: Pennsylvania's Statehouse-to-Prison Pipeline. Late last month, we released our latest edition for the 2021-2022 legislative session.Mass incarceration begins at the statehouse. The purpose of this report is to highlight the role and responsibility of the Pennsylvania General Assembly in fueling our state’s ongoing mass incarceration crisis.
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