Wayne Gilchrest on Crime Republican Representative (MD-1)

Voted YES on expanding services for offendors' re-entry into society.

Proponents support voting YES because:

Rep. CONYERS: Some 650,000 men and women are leaving the Federal and State prisons each year. While the vast majority of the prisoners are committed to abiding by the law and becoming productive members of society, they often encounter the same pressures & temptations that they faced before prison. More than two-thirds of them are arrested for new crimes within 3 years of their release. This exacts a terrible cost in financial terms as well as in human terms. The Second Chance Act will help provide these men and women with the training, counseling and other support needed to help them obtain & hold steady jobs; to kick their drug and alcohol habits; rebuild their families; and deal with the many other challenges that they face in their efforts to successfully rejoin society.

Opponents recommend voting NO because:

Rep. GOHMERT: The programs that are sought to be renewed are ones we don't have information on how successful they were. I can tell you from my days as a judge, there was some anecdotal evidence that it looked like faith-based programs did a better job of dramatically reducing recidivism. In addition:

• There are some provisions that allow for too much administration. That is going to build a bigger bureaucracy.
• Dismissing all charges if someone completes drug rehab under another provision I think is outrageous. You are going to remove the hammer that would allow you to keep people in line?
• We also have a provision to teach inmates how they can go about getting the most welfare before they leave prison and go out on their own.

Voted NO on funding for alternative sentencing instead of more prisons.

Voted YES on more prosecution and sentencing for juvenile crime.

Voted NO on maintaining right of habeas corpus in Death Penalty Appeals.

Voted YES on making federal death penalty appeals harder.

Voted NO on replacing death penalty with life imprisonment.

Rated 38% by CURE, indicating mixed votes on rehabilitation.

CURE (Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants) is a membership organization of families of prisoners, prisoners, former prisoners and other concerned citizens. CURE's two goals are

1. to use prisons only for those who have to be in them; and
2. for those who have to be in them, to provide them all the rehabilitative opportunities they need to turn their lives around.

Reduce recidivism by giving offenders a Second Chance.

Recidivism Reduction and Second Chance Act of 2007
• Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to expand provisions for adult and juvenile offender state and local reentry demonstration projects to provide expanded services to offenders and their families for reentry into society.
• Directs the Attorney General to award grants for:
  1. state and local reentry courts;
  2. Comprehensive and Continuous Offender Reentry Task Forces;
  3. pharmacological drug treatment services to incarcerated offenders;
  4. technology career training for offenders;
  5. mentoring services for reintegrating offenders into the community;
  6. pharmacological drug treatment services to incarcerated offenders;
  7. prison-based family treatment programs for incarcerated parents of minor children; and
  8. a study of parole or post-incarceration supervision violations and revocations.

More prison cells; more truth in sentencing.

• To encourage each State to adopt truth in sentencing laws and to help fund additional spaces in the State correctional programs as needed.
• Provide grants to States to build, expand, or operate space in correctional facilities in order to implement specified "truth in sentencing" requirements.
• Requires a State, to be eligible for funding under this Act, to have in effect throughout the State such requirements, including provisions which:
  1. restrict parole, good-time credit release, or other forms of early release to require that criminals convicted of crimes of violence serve at least 85% of the sentence imposed by a judge or jury;
  2. require the sentencing authority to allow the defendant's victim or the victim's family the opportunity to be heard regarding the issue of sentencing;
  3. allow as a sentencing option a "life sentence" without the possibility of parole; and
  4. provide that the victim and the victim's family shall be notified whenever such defendant is to be released.

More prisons, more enforcement, effective death penalty.

[As part of the Contract with America, within 100 days we pledge to bring to the House Floor the following bill]:

The Taking Back Our Streets Act:
An anti-crime package including stronger truth in sentencing, “good faith” exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer’s crime bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools.

Prevent luxurious conditions in prisons.

To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to prevent luxurious conditions in prisons. The "No Frills Prison Act" requires each State, to be eligible for truth in sentencing incentive grants, to demonstrate that it:

1. provides living conditions and opportunities within its prisons that are not more luxurious than those that the average prisoner would have experienced if not incarcerated;
2. does not provide to any such prisoner specified benefits or privileges, including earned good time credits, less than 40 hours a week of work that either offsets or reduces the expenses of keeping the prisoner or provides resources toward restitution of victims, unmonitored phone calls (with exceptions), in-cell television viewing, possession of pornographic materials, instruction or training equipment for any martial art or bodybuilding or weightlifting equipment, or dress or hygiene other than as is uniform or standard in the prison; and
3. in the case of a prisoner serving a sentence for a crime of violence which resulted in serious bodily injury to another, does not provide housing other than in separate cell blocks intended for violent prisoners, less than nine hours a day of physical labor (with exceptions), any release from the prison for any purpose unless under physical or mechanical restraint and under constant supervision of at least one armed correctional officer, or any viewing of television. Source: No Frills Prison Act (H.R.663) 95-HR663 on Jan 24, 1995

   Click here for definitions & background information on Crime. Click here for a profile of Wayne Gilchrest. Click here for HouseMatch answers by Wayne Gilchrest. Agree? Disagree? Voice your opinions on Crime in The Forum. Click here for a summary of Wayne Gilchrest's positions on all issues. Click here for issue positions of other MD politicians.
   Other candidates on Crime:			Wayne Gilchrest on other issues:
   MD Gubernatorial: Martin O`Malley MD Senatorial: Barbara Mikulski Benjamin Cardin Corrogan Vaughn Pending elections: D,IL-5:Emanuel D,CA-31:Solis D,NY-20:Gillibrand Special elections in 110th Congress: R,GA-10:Broun D,IN-7:Carson D,LA-6:Cazayoux D,MD-4:Edwards D,IL-14:Foster D,CA-37:Richardson R,LA-1:Scalise D,CA-12:Speier D,MA-5:Tsongas R,VA-1:Wittman	GOP Freshmen in 111th Congress: R,OH-7:Austria R,OH-16:Boccieri R,LA-2:Cao R,LA-6:Cassidy R,UT-3:Chaffetz R,CA-6:Coffman R,LA-4:Fleming R,KY-2:Guthrie R,MS-3:Harper R,CA-52:Hunter R,KS-2:Jenkins R,NJ-7:Lance R,NY-26:Lee R,MO-9:Luetkemeyer R,WY-AL:Lummis R,CA-4:McClintock R,TX-22:Olson R,MN-3:Paulsen R,FL-15:Posey R,TN-1:Roe R,FL-16:Rooney R,IL-18:Schock R,PA-5:Thompson	Dem. Freshmen in 111th Congress: D,NJ-3:Adler D,AL-2:Bright D,VA-11:Connolly D,PA-3:Dahlkemper D,OH-1:Driehaus D,OH-11:Fudge D,FL-8:Grayson D,AL-5:Griffith D,IL-11:Halvorson D,NM-1:Heinrich D,CT-4:Himes D,OH-15:Kilroy D,AZ-1:Kirkpatrick D,NC-8:Kissell D,FL-24:Kosmas D,MD-1:Kratovil D,NM-3:Lujan D,NY-25:Maffei D,CO-4:Markey D,NY-29:Massa D,NY-13:McMahon D,ID-1:Minnick D,VA-5:Perriello D,MI-9:Peters D,ME-1:Pingree D,CO-2:Polis D,MI-7:Schauer D,OR-5:Schrader D,NM-2:Teague D,NV-3:Titus D,NY-21:Tonko	Abortion Budget/Economy Civil Rights Corporations Crime Drugs Education Energy/Oil Environment Families/Children Foreign Policy Free Trade Govt. Reform Gun Control Health Care Homeland Security Immigration Infrastructure/Technology Jobs Principles/Values Social Security Tax Reform War/Iraq/Mideast Welfare/Poverty Main Page Profile MD politicians

   
   
   
   
   
   Page last updated: Oct 03, 2009