CLEVELAND – Gov. Nathan Deal and two other governors on Tuesday urged their fellow Republican state leaders to enact criminal justice reforms in their states as a way to build stronger communities.
Deal, Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma and Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky, were part of a panel on justice reform held today in the city that is also hosting the Republican National Convention. The event, sponsored by the U.S. Justice Action Network recognized the three governors for efforts in their states to overhaul the justice system.
Such reform has been a key plank in Deal’s legislative platform nearly every year he has been in office. Sweeping legislation aimed at helping nonviolent offenders has been approved by the General Assembly and signed by Deal in each of the last four years. On Tuesday, Deal indicated he would soon announce his plans for the 2017 legislative session.
In Georgia, part of the success of justice reform is based on so-called accountability courts, which Deal’s son, Superior Court Judge Jason Deal, has championed in Hall County.
“From a Republican point of view,” Deal said, “this may not be the way people paint us to be. We don’t have to lock them up and throw away the key.”
Accountability court allows nonviolent offenders – such as drug offenders or DUI – of participating in an intensive program designed to get them off their dependency and turn their lives around.
In an interview following the program, Deal became visibly emotional as he recounted the story of a young woman who approached him and his wife during a shopping trip in North Georgia.
“She came up to me and said, ‘Your son saved my life,’” Deal said. “You might think that she would be embarrassed by what she had been through. Instead she was proud of what she has accomplished by turning her life around.”
Fallin of Oklahoma said her state had the misfortune of being the No. 1 state in America for numbers of incarcerated women.
“We have a problem of substance abuse, poverty and a lack of education,” she said. “It all plays a role, and we have to find a way to break that cycle.”
Bevin said he understood that some people had concerns about comprehensive justice reform, but he said law enforcement has more important things to do than deal with so many nonviolent offenders.
“We need to concentrate law enforcement in those area where there is a need, whether it be for the safety of society or the safety of themselves, for people to be incarcerated,” he said. “Clearly, we can do better. We owe better to our society.”
While criminal justice reform has been a high priority for Deal for the last four years, he suggested Tuesday that he will focus next year on education reform.
“Education is the ultimate criminal justice reform,” he said.
Legislation passed in 2014 in Georgia was designed to cut down on the number of people who committed another crime after being released from prison.
“So many of these inmates don’t have a high school diploma,” Deal said. “They don’t have a GED. They were leaving prison with no skills and it was only a matter of time until they came back into the prison system.”
Georgia inmates now are eligible for work-related training to make them better equipped to move back into society after their prison terms end.
During Tuesday’s presentation, the U.S. Justice Action Network introduced a short film highlighting the efforts by Deal, Fallin and Bevin.
The U.S. Justice Action Network is the largest bipartisan coalition working at the state and federal level to reform our broken criminal justice system.
