By Daniela Altimari
The Hartford Courant
HARTFORD, Conn. — Legislators on Monday approved an overhaul of the state’s criminal justice system that emphasizes treatment and redemption over punishment and incarceration for low-level drug offenders.
The proposal, called Second Chance Society by its chief champion, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, reduces the penalties for drug possession and overhauls the pardons and parole system.
Also on Monday, the legislature endorsed another far-reaching criminal justice bill that seeks to increase police accountability, bolster the ranks of minority officers and build trust between police and the communities they protect.
It also mandates that state police equip troopers with body cameras. While municipal departments would not be required to use the technology, the legislation provides a financial incentive for those that do.
And the legislation stipulates that cases involving police use of deadly force would be assigned to investigators from outside the officer’s jurisdiction in an effort to avoid a potential conflict of interest.
Rep. Bruce Morris, a Norwalk Democrat who is one of the measure’s chief proponents, urged support for the bill, calling it an important step in addressing what he called the nation’s deeply rooted pattern of institutional racism.
“Do what we can today to undo this all-too-often injustice against primarily black and brown citizens,” he said. “America is watching.”
Both bills cleared the Senate during the regular session of the legislature but failed to come up for a vote in the House of Representatives before adjournment at midnight on June 3. The measures were reconsidered at Monday’s special legislative session.
Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney said the two proposals are among the most important public policy initiatives of the year.
Several aspects of the police accountability legislation — including a provision explicitly stating that citizens have the right to videotape police officers performing their duties — have been proposed in years past.
But they were given added urgency this year after highly publicized police encounters in Staten Island, N.Y., North Charleston, S.C., and Baltimore that left unarmed black men dead.
“I think we are all aware of some of the reasons why this bill is before us,” said Sen. Eric Coleman, a Bloomfield Democrat and co-chairman of the legislature’s judiciary committee. “There have been a number of incidents that have occurred around the country in recent years.”
Republican legislators in the Senate expressed strong support for the bill. Sen. John Kissel, the ranking Republican on the judiciary committee, noted that the proposal does not require body cameras, but gives communities financial support should they choose to purchase them. “It is not a mandate, but rather an opportunity,” he said.
In the House, the bill was met with considerable opposition from Republicans, who expressed reservations about the recruitment requirements. Under the legislation, departments in communities with large minority populations would be required to initiate outreach programs and other initiatives to boost the number of minority police officers.
Rep. Richard Smith, R-New Fairfield, said he was troubled by language in the bill that requires police departments to make an effort to “recruit, retain and promote minority police officers so that the racial and ethnic diversity of [the department] is representative of [the] community.”
Smith said: “When I read the language in this statute, I, for the first time, I guess, felt discriminated against as a white man. So I have a small taste of what my minority colleagues have felt probably throughout their lives.”
But, Smith added, “Two wrongs, as my mother always said, do not create a right.”
Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford, said the legislation does not set quotas for minority hiring, but it does seek to bolster the diversity of local police departments so they more closely resemble the communities they serve.
“Generalized statements and goals of diversity just aren’t getting us there,” said Tong, co-chairman of the judiciary committee. “I think this is an effort to put more meat on the bone.”
The bill sets out new training requirements for police in use of force, cultural sensitivity and bias-free policing. And it establishes new protocols in the aftermath of an incident involving police use of lethal force, including a provision that a state’s attorney from a different jurisdiction investigate such incidents to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Scot X. Esdaile, president of the Connecticut NAACP, applauded lawmakers. “With all the turmoil going on around the country, Connecticut legislators are listening, and they’re striving to work together to make the state a role model for the nation,” he said, standing outside the Senate chamber moments after the vote.
The Second Chance Society bill was presented by Malloy, a former prosecutor, at Yale Law School in February.
“We can truly be tough on crime by being smarter on crime, and that’s why we’re focusing on initiatives that work,” the governor said moments after the Senate gave the measure final legislative approval. “The cycle our system currently encourages — one of permanent punishment — hurts too many families and communities.”
The proposal represents a retrenchment from the zero-tolerance philosophy that has dominated criminal justice policy since President Ronald Reagan declared a “war on drugs” in 1982. Malloy is a Democrat, but his proposals are similar to those put forth in Republican-led Georgia, Texas and Alabama. In Connecticut, Kissel and other Republican lawmakers were among the measure’s most passionate backers.
“We’re going to try to afford individuals a different path, a better path, an ability to turn their lives around,” Kissel said. “Let’s take a chance on this bill. Let’s see how it goes. We can always circle back ... if we have to go back and tweak it and change it.”
Copyright 2015 The Hartford Courant