PRINTER'S NO. 823
No. 121 Session of 2007
INTRODUCED BY JAMES, SAINATO, GIBBONS, GRUCELA, YOUNGBLOOD,
CREIGHTON, GINGRICH, BEYER, DONATUCCI, VULAKOVICH,
DiGIROLAMO, PAYNE, VEREB, KIRKLAND, MANTZ, HERSHEY, CLYMER,
PARKER, PALLONE, SCAVELLO, HESS, BENNINGHOFF, PHILLIPS,
M. O'BRIEN, JOSEPHS, LEACH AND FABRIZIO, MARCH 19, 2007
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, MARCH 19, 2007
A RESOLUTION
1 Recognizing the month of March 2007 as "Justice Awareness Month"
2 in Pennsylvania.
3 WHEREAS, More than 2.2 million people are currently
4 incarcerated in Federal and State prisons and in county and city
5 jails in the United States; and
6 WHEREAS, More than 7 million people are either in jail or
7 prison or on probation or parole; and
8 WHEREAS, The Federal and state prison population is expected
9 to increase to more than 1.7 million by 2011; and
10 WHEREAS, The United States will need more than $27.5 billion
11 over the next five years to accommodate the projected prison
12 population; and
13 WHEREAS, Pennsylvania's inmate population is currently more
14 than 42,000 and is projected to increase by 17% in the next five
15 years; and
16 WHEREAS, Pennsylvania currently spends more than $32,000
1 annually per inmate and will need to spend more than $34,000
2 annually per inmate in the next five years; and
3 WHEREAS, Pennsylvania currently spends more than $1.4 billion
4 annually and will need more than $1.7 billion to accommodate its
5 prison population; and
6 WHEREAS, There were ten cases of postconviction exonerations
7 of persons sentenced to life terms or death in this
8 Commonwealth; and
9 WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Study on racial and
10 gender bias recently published its findings indicating that
11 there is disparate treatment of women and minorities in the
12 criminal justice system; and
13 WHEREAS, Pennsylvania is one of 29 states without a
14 compensation law for persons who are wrongfully convicted; and
15 WHEREAS, Pennsylvania, in the interest of fair and equal
16 justice, should adopt a recorded interrogations law; therefore
17 be it
18 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives recognize the
19 month of March 2007 as "Justice Awareness Month" in
20 Pennsylvania.
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