State Senator
John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, has been chosen to participate
in a multi-state conference to discuss different approaches
to sentencing reform. The three-day meeting sponsored and
paid for by The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety
Performance Project and the Vera Institute of Justice will
feature presentations from a variety of the nation’s
top experts on sentencing.
The conference, to be
held on Nov. 4-6 in Denver, comes at a time when the Connecticut
legislature is actively seeking to reform the state’s
sentencing and corrections policy. According to Sen. Kissel,
who serves as Ranking Member of the legislature’s
Judiciary Committee and is a member of the Connecticut Sentencing
Task Force, the opportunity to deliberate these issues with
national experts and officials from other states would provide
information on an array of strategies and concepts that
would be beneficial to the ongoing reform debate in Connecticut.
“One of the biggest
challenges we face here in Connecticut is the reform of
our sentencing system. I am honored to be chosen to participate
in this conference and look forward to hearing from the
experts and representatives of other states to see how they
are handling this issue,” said Sen. Kissel. “The
more information we can gather, the better. This meeting
comes at a time when we are vigorously moving towards comprehensive
reform.”
According to Sen. Kissel,
presentations from top sentencing experts will include:
• National sentencing
policy trends and legal developments;
• Approaches to structured sentencing;
• Using risk assessment to inform sentencing decisions;
and
• Strategies to promote diversion and public safety.
In addition, these
experts and knowledgeable facilitators will be teamed with
each state delegation to engage in a discussion of the state’s
specific needs and planning of reform measures that can
be taken.
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