House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte said criminal justice reform remains a top agenda item for the new Congress.
“[T]he committee will continue to advance an agenda that ensures our federal criminal laws are designed to appropriately punish wrongdoers,” the Virginia Republican said Wednesday in a speech to the Federalist Society at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., citing the importance of safeguarding civil liberties.
Goodlatte said he and Rep. John Conyers, the committee’s ranking Democrat, “remain committed to passing bipartisan criminal justice reform.”
“We must also reform sentencing laws in a responsible way and improve the prison system and reentry programs to reduce recidivism,” Goodlatte said.
In the last Congress, House Judiciary passed a series of criminal justice reform bills, including dealing with sentencing and prison reform and asset forfeiture. However, other bills stalled in the committee and none made it to a full House floor vote.
