[[Image:Wisconsin.png|left|90px]] When current Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was a state representative, he was an ALEC member and introduced several bills proposed by ALEC, including "Truth in Sentencing" and bills to privatize the state's prison system.
[[Image:Trayvon.jpg|left|150px]]In February 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by 28-year-old George Zimmerman as the unarmed high school student returned from a 7-11 with an iced tea and bag of Skittles. Police initially failed to arrest Zimmerman because of the state's "Stand Your Ground" law, which goes beyond the traditional right to self defense by establishing a legal presumption of immunity if a killer claims they had a reasonable fear of bodily harm. The law has been described as an invitation to vigilantism and a "license to kill."
<br>In March 2012, CMD [http://prwatch.org/news/2012/03/11366/alec-ratified-nra-conceived-law-may-protect-trayvon-martins-killer reported] that NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer [http://mediamatters.org/blog/201203270005 helped draft] the Florida law in 2005, and [http://www.prwatch.org/files/Retreat_from_NRA's_force_St._Petersburg_Time.DOC "stared down legislators as they voted"] to pass it. Just a few months later, Hammer [http://www.prwatch.org/files/NRA_2005.png presented the bill] to ALEC's Criminal Justice Task Force (now known as the Public Safety and Elections Task Force), and the NRA [http://www.prwatch.org/files/NRA_2005.png boasted] that "[h]er talk was well-received." The corporations and state legislators on the Task Force -- which was [http://web.archive.org/web/20050810000953/http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/0805/08alec.html chaired] by Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer of long guns -- voted unanimously to approve the bill as an ALEC "model bill." Since becoming an ALEC model it has become law in dozens of other states, and the number of homicides classified as "justifiable" [http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/stand-your-ground-laws-coincide-with-jump-in-justifiable-homicide-cases/2012/04/07/gIQAS2v51S_story.html has dramatically increased].<br>
Passed in Wisconsin in 1997, "Truth in Sentencing" requires inmates to serve their full sentence and reduced incentives for earlier parole or supervised release. The Walker program has inflated prison populations and greatly increased the amount of taxpayer dollars spent on prisons -- in Wisconsin, to [http://www3.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=277059 an estimated $1.8 billion through 2025]. In many states, Truth in Sentencing has increased profits for private prison companies like the [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Corrections_Corporation_of_America Corrections Corporation of America], a member of ALEC's Private Sector board. In 1999, then-Rep. Scott Walker also introduced [http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/crime_and_courts/blog/article_34fb8f50-18ff-11e0-8ee0-001cc4c03286.html two bills] that would allow private prisons in Wisconsin. While those bills did not pass, some inmates were contracted out to private prisons in other states, and [http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/crime_and_courts/blog/article_44c6e570-1903-11e0-af8e-001cc4c03286.html the Corrections Corporation of America has registered lobbyists] in the state ever since.
----
A former head of Wisconsin's prison system who is currently a University of Wisconsin Law Professor, Walter Dickey, told American Radio Works it is "shocking" that lawmakers would write sentencing policy with help from ALEC, a group that gets funding, and supposedly "expertise," from a private prison corporation. "I don't know that they know anything about sentencing," he said. "They know how to build prisons, presumably, since that's the business they're in. They don't know anything about probation and parole. They don't know about the development of alternatives. They don't know about how public safety might be created and defended in communities in this state and other states."
The Wisconsin state legislature apparently recognized the folly of Truth in Sentencing and rolled back the law this past decade. However, when Scott Walker became governor, he reversed this progress and requested legislation to restore the (ALEC-based) Truth in Sentencing scheme, despite the costs to taxpayers and despite claiming Wisconsin was "broke." It is unknown whether privatized prisons will soon follow.'''<br>
To learn more about this story, click [http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/corrections/laws1.html here], or [http://www3.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=277059 here].
{{Helpful Resources}}
{{Helpful Resources}}
<br>
<br>
Revision as of 18:15, 5 September 2012
Efforts to Rewrite Americans' Rights; Changes that Imprison More People for Longer and Make More Money
This page documents how bills pushed by ALEC corporations result in taxpayers subsidizing the profits of the private prison industry by putting more people in for-profit prisons and keeping them in jail for longer. The bills also would put more guns on streets and interfere with local law enforcement decisions about how best to interact with immigrant communities. Through ALEC, corporations have both a VOICE and a VOTE on specific state laws through these model bills. Do you?
How Are Corporations Interfering With Our Criminal Justice System?
Corporations and their politician allies voted behind closed doors through ALEC to change America's criminal justice system and enrich profits.
On the surface, many ALEC bills look like basic tough-on-crime legislation, but some corporate leaders of ALEC benefit financially from such legislation -- meaning that what has been sold to the public as good for public safety was often pushed by corporations that profit from such changes in the law, without politicians disclosing their corporate allies' financial interest to the public when such bills, pre-approved by the corporations, were introduced.
Examples include:
Bills that prop up the for-profit bail bond industry, a long-time ALEC board member, through:
Not in the zip file, but on The Heartland Institute website, is the "Private Correctional Facilities Act" from 1995, which opens a state to for-profit incarceration.
Bills that add new penalties for retail theft, which increase prison population and aid ALEC corporations that are retailers, like corporate board member Wal-Mart, such as:
The bills also include anti-immigrant legislation that require local law enforcement to enforce complex federal law, result in racial or ethnic profiling, and destroy the law enforcement-community relationship. (See Arizona's SB1070 model here, as well as this bill, this bill and this bill).
The bills would also overturn long-standing rules designed to protect Americans' constitutional rights, including the right to be free from warrantless searches and the right to confront one's accusers, such as legislation to:
Still other bills would aid corporations in other ways, like bills to punish homeowners for the mortgage crisis by creating the crime of "mortgage fraud," that focuses primarily on consumers, but no corresponding new crimes for the Wall Street shell game that sank the U.S. economy.
Spotlight on Gun Bills
For many years, until this spring, the National Rifle Association (NRA) actually co-chaired the ALEC "Task Force on Public Safety and Elections." (The election bills are discussed in the section of this site titled "Democracy, Voter Rights and Federal Power.") ALEC bills include "model" legislation that advances the constitutionality of an individual's right to bear arms, an argument vindicated by a recent ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court. The legislation also would likely benefit the firearms industry closely connected to the NRA.
Bills or resolutions in this area:
Oppose bans on semi-automatic firearms like the one used in the shooting in Arizona that killed nine people and seriously injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Oppose efforts by law enforcement to use their purchasing power get gun manufacturers not to market guns or ammo likely to be used against police, like "cop killer bullets" that pierce armor.
For a full list of bills from this section, click here.
This information is available for download as a two-page fact sheet here.
ALEC Ratified "Stand Your Ground" Law
In February 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by 28-year-old George Zimmerman as the unarmed high school student returned from a 7-11 with an iced tea and bag of Skittles. Police initially failed to arrest Zimmerman because of the state's "Stand Your Ground" law, which goes beyond the traditional right to self defense by establishing a legal presumption of immunity if a killer claims they had a reasonable fear of bodily harm. The law has been described as an invitation to vigilantism and a "license to kill."
In March 2012, CMD reported that NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer helped draft the Florida law in 2005, and "stared down legislators as they voted" to pass it. Just a few months later, Hammer presented the bill to ALEC's Criminal Justice Task Force (now known as the Public Safety and Elections Task Force), and the NRA boasted that "[h]er talk was well-received." The corporations and state legislators on the Task Force -- which was chaired by Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer of long guns -- voted unanimously to approve the bill as an ALEC "model bill." Since becoming an ALEC model it has become law in dozens of other states, and the number of homicides classified as "justifiable" has dramatically increased.
For a full list of individual bills from this section, click here
For descriptions of some of these bills, click here.
Learn MORE about the "Model Bills" ALEC Corporations Are Backing to Rewrite YOUR Rights
The Center for Media and Democracy analyzed the bills ALEC politicians and corporations voted for. More analysis is available below and also at ALEC Exposed's sister sites, PRWatch and SourceWatch.
ALEC Exposed is a project of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). CMD does NOT accept donations from for-profit corporations or government agencies. More information about CMD is available here. You can reach CMD's Executive Director, Arn Pearson, via editor AT ALECexposed.org. Privacy policy: Other than material you post to this wiki in your name, our privacy policy is that we will not disclose private personally identifiable information or data about you, such as your name, email address, or other information, unless required by law. On copyright: ALEC Exposed considers contributions to this wiki to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License or in accordance with law. Information on how to provide us with notice regarding copyright is available at this link. Notices regarding copyright or other matters should be sent to our designated agent, Arn Pearson, via email (editor AT ALECexposed.org).
