Legislation

As an important piece of criminal justice reform legislation, this bill would slightly redefine in two ways the definitions of “felony” and “misdemeanor” in Rhode Island law.

We strongly supported legislation which would require that the parental status of a defendant be taken into account as a component of the sentencing process.

In addition to the amendments that this bill would make to the community service requirements to be imposed against individuals convicted of graffiti offenses, we urged that this bill be further used as an opportunity to revisit the extremely harsh prison penalties associated with this offense.

We opposed legislation which would make it a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison, for a person between the ages of 18 and 21 to engage in electronic casino gaming, or iGaming.

We strongly supported this bill which would prohibit the questioning of a juvenile suspected of criminal activity without a parent or legal guardian present.

Current state law explicitly singles out individuals convicted for sex work offenses for mandatory HIV testing. We supported the repeal of this statute which is discriminatory towards both sex workers and individuals with HIV.

We opposed legislation which would institute a “healthcare service provider abuser registry” for Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals (BHDDH) employees

We supported legislation which would formally codify an ongoing program in our state Department of Corrections which provides medicated assisted treatment for individuals who are incarcerated.