Ask House Judiciary Chair John Allen and Public Safety Chair Kevin Payne to give HB2270 a hearing as soon as possible!

The first step in the legislative process is for bills to be heard in committee. Most criminal justice bills are assigned to the Judiciary Committee. In this case, HB2270 Just Sentencing Bill has been assigned to TWO committees, making it that much harder to get it through the process.

If bills are not heard in their committees by February 22, they are effectively dead.

Please call, email, or fax the Chairs of the Judiciary and Safety Committees and tell them HB2270 deserves a hearing!

Tell Them HB2270 deserves a hearing because:

• The current 85% requirement is a disincentive for incarcerated people to participate in programming. With no hope of earning time, incarcerated individuals have little reason to take part in drug treatment, education, or other rehabilitative programming.
• This is a primary reason why Arizona has the 4th highest incarceration rate in the country. Since 2000, the prison population has gone up nearly 60%–almost twice as fast as the resident population. Arizona’s prison sentences are significantly longer than those in other states, particularly for non-violent and drug related crimes. People sentenced for drug crimes in Arizona serve 40% longer than the national average. For property crimes, Arizona sentences are twice the national average.
• Incarceration costs over $1.1 billion in taxpayer dollars, diverting scarce general funds away from education, child welfare, and other needed state programs. Corrections is the third largest state agency budget, absorbing 11% of the state’s budget dollars.
• Longer time in prison does not make Arizona safer. Arizona recidivism rate is over 50%. Research shows that longer sentences cause diminishing returns to reducing recidivism and enhancing public safety. Crime rates nationwide are dropping, and many states including North Carolina and Texas have reduced spending on prisons, made major reforms to their sentencing laws, and seen much greater decreases in crime than Arizona.

If you have served time in Arizona or have a loved one in prison or who has been released, please (briefly) share your story! Legislators need to know how the laws they pass impact their constituents.

**Please blind copy (bcc) or cc us (afscaz@afsc.org), we will have a better idea how effective this initiative is. If you receive responses, even boiler-plate ones, please forward those to us, if possible.