Senate Votes Against National Criminal Justice Commission

An amendment to create a National Criminal Justice Commission came three votes short of passing the U.S. Senate yesterday.

Virginia Senator Jim Webb introduced the National Criminal Justice Commission Act earlier this year to create a bipartisan commission that would review and identify effective criminal justice policies and make recommendations for reform.

Despite the vote, Sen. Webb vowed to continue fighting for justice, reported The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

“Today, Senate Republicans blocked an important opportunity to make our criminal-justice system more fair and effective. Their inflammatory arguments defy reasonable explanation and were contradicted by the plain language of our legislation,” Webb said. “To suggest, for example, that the nonbinding recommendations of a bipartisan commission threaten the Constitution is absurd.”

The Innocence Project has long supported the creation of a National Criminal Justice Commission because such a body could address the root causes of wrongful convictions, along with dozens of other critical problems in the American criminal justice system.

Thousands of Innocence Project supporters have called on Congress in recent months to form this critical commission, and your voices helped get the commission this far. The effort isn’t over. Stay tuned for next steps.

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Read more about the vote against a National Criminal Justice Commission from Politico.

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