Citizens' Right to Know Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge that this body oppose H.R. 2152, which is a classic piece of legislation which poses itself as a solution, but it is in search of a problem. The solution has very ominous consequences for minorities and poor people, and infringes on the constitutional rights of citizens, that they should be presumed to be innocent until proven guilty when they participate in these pretrial release services.

When I was a magistrate court judge in DeKalb County, Georgia, over a period of 12 years, starting in 1989 to a time about 5 years before I came to Congress, it was my duty to commit people to pretrial services.

Everybody knows how it works, everybody knows who is eligible, and everybody knows that it is a roaring success. There are no problems with pretrial services, which help poor people and basically minorities, who tend to be disproportionately caught up in the criminal justice system.

It helps people who can't afford to make a money bail to be able to get out of jail with some minimal supervision as they await disposition of the charges against them.

It is a simple program administered by State and local authorities around the country. It works. There is no question about it. There is no need for any Federal supervision or oversight of these programs.

What H.R. 2152 would do would be to require local governments who receive DOJ funding for pretrial services to send a report to the DOJ, the Jeff Sessions DOJ, detailing the personally identifiable information on those defendants participating in alternative bail/ pretrial release programs, which are typically utilized by those who can't afford money bail.

Sending this information to the DOJ will create a permanent record of the defendants who are awaiting trial, and that data will remain in a Federal database, even if the charges against the accused are dropped or the accused is found innocent.

Pretrial service programs are critical in protecting those who are unable to post bond during their pretrial stages, and this legislation would disproportionately impact minorities and poor people.

The presumption of innocence is one of the most sacred elements of our criminal justice system and a pillar of many modern-day criminal justice operations in modern society throughout the world.

H.R. 2152 threatens this right to a presumption of innocence. Pretrial service programs are critical, and poor people and minorities should not be penalized by being permanently marked in a Federal database, and for that reason I ask my colleagues to not approve this solution in desperate search for a problem with ominous implications for poor and minority people.

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