Bradley / 2 Senator Doan

S.R._____

A BILL
To provide alternative punishments than incarceration for nonviolent offenders.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This act may be cited as the Criminal Law Reform Act of 2016.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
Congress hereby finds and declares that,
1) Requiring the offender to pay supervision fees, fines, and court costs can be used as an independent

punishment or in addition to other punishments.

2) Minimum sentence for drug offenders
3) Crime is expensive, from the impact on victims, costs to society and to the criminal. Dollars and cents expenses
are a primary driving force behind prison alternatives.
4) Its no secret that prison overcrowding is a serious issue that must be addressed. Much of the growth in prison
populations can be traced to higher incarceration rates of nonviolent offenders
5) Have a rehabilitation system that actually rehabilitates by embracing alternative sentencing programs for
nonviolent crime
6) Nonviolent offenders comprise over 60% of the prison and jail population in America, and in Illinois specifically,
they constitute almost 70% of inmates in prisons.
7) Placement in a non-custodial setting during a term of punishment (e.g., split sentence, work release, home
detention, electronic monitoring, earned discharge, medical release), probation, supervision by a specialty court in
lieu of custody, community service, placement in a halfway or sober-living house, fines, and mandatory treatment or
training.
8) Between 1988 and 2009, state corrections spending increased from $12 billion to more than $50 billion per year
9) Prisons around the world are growing in population, which may place enormous financial burdens on taxpayers
and governments who must pay to keep criminals incarcerated.
10) Fines are a common punishment for a variety of crimes, especially less serious offenses committed by first-time
offenders.
11)
SECTION 3. STATUTORY LANGUAGE
A) The Criminal Law Reform Act of 2016 will provide alternative punishments than incarceration for nonviolent
offenders. Offenders who commit nonviolent crimes such as fraud, arson, prostitution, bribery, and crimes involving
drugs and alcohol will be fined a certain amount of money depending on the severity of the crime. If you have
committed a crime involving drugs and alcohol, you will be given the option of entering a rehabilitation center.
B) The Department of Criminal Justice will be enforcing this law to its full potential.
C) This law will be enacted January 1, 2017. If one fails to abide by this law, he or she will face the consequences
given by the court.

Press Release
The United States spends around $24 billion dollars each year incarcerating nonviolent offenders. The country spends too
much money on prisons so it is crucial we reduce that amount. By doing so, we need to provide alternative punishments than
incarceration for nonviolent offenders. The first reason why we should provide alternative punishments is because it obviously
would reduce U.S. spending on prisons. With the extra money, we could use it for educational reforms or to fund research. The
second reason is if the offender is a drug user, they should be given the option for rehabilitation to help their addiction. Currently
today, it is much cheaper to rehabilitate an individual than to keep one incarcerated. Another alternative punishment that should be
given to the nonviolent offender is that they should be given the option to pay a fine to not be put in jail or prison. This would
benefit our government because all the proceedings will go to them. If this bill is passed into a law, our country would greatly
benefit from it.