ALEC Justice Performance Project

The ALEC Justice Performance Project is an initiative of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that the organization says "is part of a growing movement among conservatives working to improve public safety by refocusing taxpayer dollars on violent offenders and away from low-risk offenders." The "project" appears to have taken on some of the roles of the Public Safety and Elections Task Force that ALEC abandoned in April 2012 in the face of controversy over such bills as "Stand Your Ground"/Castle Doctrine and the Voter ID Act. For example, it pushes ALEC bills such as the "Community Corrections Performance Measurement Act" and the "Swift and Certain Sanctions Act." An internal ALEC document obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) via open records request suggests that the project is treated like a task force, with members from each state being chosen by the ALEC state chair just as for other task forces. According to the same document, major issue areas covered by the project include "criminal justice (including courts and sentencing, prison overcrowding); corrections and reentry (parole, recidivism rates, instituting evidence-based practices, and justice reinvestment)."

While the work of the project indicates it may be taking steps away from ALEC's previous "tough on crime" measures that put more people in prison for more time and helped make the United States the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world, ALEC has taken no steps towards urging repeal in any states of the "model" bills it pushed for many years.

Project Started in November 2012
ALEC unveiled its new "Justice Performance Project" at its 2012 "States and Nation Policy Summit" in Washington, D.C., when it hosted an educational panel on criminal justice reforms in the states. The panelists were Pat Nolan of Prison Fellowship Ministries (an ALEC member previously on its Public Safety and Elections Task Force), Marc Levin of State Policy Network-member think tank the Texas Public Policy Foundation (another ALEC member previously on its Public Safety and Elections Task Force), and Georgia Representative Edward Lindsey.

Personnel

 * Director: Cara Sullivan (see ALEC Staff for more)
 * Chairman: Rep. Chris Shank (R-MD)

Members

 * Chairman: Rep. Chris Shank (R-MD)
 * Rep. Allen Fletcher (R-TX 130)
 * Rep. Tan Parker (R-TX 63)
 * Rep. Stefani Carter (R-TX 102)
 * Rep. Debbie Riddle (Alternate) (R-TX 150)
 * Rep. Steve Toth (Alternate) (R-TX 15)

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * American Legislative Exchange Council
 * ALEC Task Forces
 * Public Safety and Elections Task Force