Legislation

We opposed a bill seeking to increase the penalties for a variety of driving offenses, noting that the approach of sending people to prison for longer periods of time and imposing steeper fines on offenders would not deter reckless driving nor assist in the rehabilitation of offenders.

We opposed legislation which would expand the crime of stalking to include the act of following someone and using an electronic device to record their movements in a manner that is “seriously annoying.”

We strongly supported this legislation which would create a commission to recommend the names of people to be considered for executive pardons by the Governor.

Because there is no question that rehabilitation is substantially enhanced by making contact easier between incarcerated individuals and their loved ones, we strongly supported this bill which would provide free communication services to people at the ACI.

We supported this bill which would prohibit police from employing threats, deception, or psychologically manipulative interrogation tactics during the custodial interrogation of a juvenile.

We opposed legislation which would provide that any “person in charge” of student organizations who permits hazing activities or “negligently fails to take reasonable measures” to prevent hazing” could face a potential year-long prison sentence.

We strongly supported a bill which would allow individuals serving long sentences to request a “second look” and reduction of their sentence after serving ten years.

We supported legislation which would generally prohibit the detention of a juvenile under the age of 14 at the Rhode Island Training School.

We testified in favor of legislation which would decriminalize sex work.