THE NEED FOR HABEAS CORPUS REFORM IS CRITICAL TO THE CREDIBILITY OF OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM SAYS THE NATIONAL DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION
ALEXANDRIA, VA – November 11, 2005 – The National District Attorneys Association (NDAA), at its Board of Directors Meeting last week, approved a resolution that strongly supports legislation that would reform habeas corpus law, such as the “Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005.” For the last two decades, NDAA has been in the forefront of seeking such reforms that will promote expeditious federal habeas corpus review of state court judgments, preserve finality of those judgments, reinforce the deterrent effect of the criminal law, and reduce repetitious and unwarranted litigation.
According to Paul A. Logli, President of NDAA and State’s Attorney for Winnebago County, IL, “Victims of crime and their families, as well as the public, struggle to cope with and understand our criminal justice system when it can take years – if not decades – for a sentence to be carried out. We ask the U.S. Congress to pass adequate habeas corpus reform. The “Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005” would go a long way in showing our citizens that when a criminal is convicted and sentenced, the sentence will be carried out within a reasonable period of time. It also protects the rights of the convicted criminal to seek appropriate legal review. Currently, there are far too many people languishing in our prisons while they and their attorneys use every possible law available to delay justice. We believe in the old saying ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’ These seemingly endless delays severely damage the credibility of all of us who work within law enforcement in seeking truth and implementing swift justice for those who commit violent crimes against society.”
Unfortunately, current law and the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, when applied by many federal courts, have failed to achieve their intended goals. This has resulted in increasing – rather than decreasing – delays in implementing sentences and it has undermined state criminal judgments.
The “Streamlined Protection Act of 2005,” if passed, would mandate changes such as: requiring respect for state procedural rules (that have been increasingly disregarded by federal courts); strengthening the requirement that convicted criminals litigate all claims in state court before filing federal habeas corpus petitions; eliminating expansive court-made tolling provisions that have undermined the habeas filing deadlines that Congress adopted by statute; regulating excessively or untimely amendments that may be made to an application for a writ; setting reasonable time limitations on appeals from the granting or denial of a writ of habeas corpus; and restoring the special provisions, which federal courts have refused to apply, for expediting litigation of habeas petitions in capital cases.
The NDAA respectfully urges Members of Congress to adopt the “Streamlined Protection Act of 2005,” or other legislation containing the principles listed above, along with ensuring prisoners rights for necessary review, to restore the public’s trust in – and society’s need for – a truth based justice system advocated by prosecutors across the Nation.
NDAA has been working on behalf of, and providing a unified voice for, state and local prosecutors for 55 years. It represents over 30,000 prosecutors, who are responsible for trying more than 95% of all criminal cases in America. NDAA is a non-partisan association with a membership as diverse as America.
CONTACT: Velva M. Walter, Director – NDAA Media Relations
Email: velva.walter@ndaa-apri.org or Phone: 703-519-1689
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