Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 115, the so-called “Thin Blue Line Act.” House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) spoke on the House floor in opposition to the bill before its passage. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery: Though troubled and saddened by the recent attacks on law enforcement officials, I believe that H.R. 115, the “Thin Blue Line ... Read more »
Today, the Department of Justice announced the issuance of memorandum from Attorney General Jeff Sessions to all federal prosecutors, establishing new policies for charging criminal offenses and seeking sentences when convictions are obtained. The memorandum explicitly rescinds prior memoranda of the Department of Justice, which includes memoranda issued by former Attorney General Eric Holder. In ... Read more »
Mr. Chairman, I welcome this hearing as the Crime Subcommittee continues its oversight of the components of the Department of Justice that advance the Department’s law enforcement mission. The Bureau of Prisons and the Marshals Service both play important roles in this regard. It is particularly important that we closely examine the administration of the Bureau of Prisons at this time. The federal... Read more »
Washington, D.C. – Members of the bipartisan Policing Strategies Working Group traveled to Houston, Texas on April 19-20, 2017 to meet with local community leaders and law enforcement to discuss police accountability, aggression towards law enforcement, and public safety concerns related to these issues. Members who traveled to Houston are House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.),... Read more »
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives held a forum to hear from NFL players about their own experiences and how they hope to improve relationships with minority communities and the police while supporting programs to help inmates successfully re-enter their communities. WATCH WHO Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member - House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Rep. John Conyers,... Read more »
Watch Here For the better part of two decades, the relationship between African-American communities and their police departments across the nation have hovered in a state of volatility, awaiting a single incident to combust. These tensions have grown as allegations of bias-based policing by law enforcement agents, sometimes supported by data collection efforts and video evidence, have increased i... Read more »
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) released the following statements after the White House announced the commutation of the sentences of hundreds of individuals this week, which brings President Obama’s record to 1,715 commutations in total: Ranking Member Conyers said, “One of the great ... Read more »
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.) joined C-SPAN Newsmakers to discuss the bipartisan Policing Strategies Working Group and the Committee’s efforts to reform our nation’s criminal justice system. C-SPAN’s co-CEO Susan Swain moderated the interview and Kimbriell Kelly of the Washington Post and Jesse Holland of the Associated Press int... Read more »
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) released the following statements after the White House announced the commutation of the sentences of 79 individuals: “The President’s power to commute sentences, as established by the Constitution, was recognized by the founders as critical to the admin... Read more »
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) today released the following statements after the White House announced the commutation of the sentences of 72 individuals: “I welcome the continued work by the President and his administration in commuting sentences, but the need to do so indicates the ... Read more »
