This year, partly due to COVID-19âs effect on last yearâs legislature, dozens of criminal justice bills were passed by the Tennessee legislature. Some increase penalties for crimes. Others give victims more protection. And others change criminal procedure for those in the system.
Gov. Bill Lee pushed three big criminal justice laws this year.
A police reform bill, based on recommendations of a task force appointed last summer amid national uproar over policing tactics, bans no-knock warrants. It also puts limitations on chokeholds and requires law enforcement agencies to enact policies regarding de-escalation and a use-of-force reporting system.
House Majority Leader Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland, sponsored two other criminal justice packages for Lee.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed two major criminal justice reform bills into law Monday. The Alternatives to Incarceration Act, which replaces the Tennessee Community Act of 1985, places a cap on t.
NewsChannel 5 Launders the Governor s PR on Criminal Justice Reform A recent story uncritically portrays Bill Lee as a reformer when he is actually upholding the system Tweet Share
NewsChannel 5 broadcast a story on Friday that could almost be described as a press release for Gov. Bill Lee only it s worse than that. They ve taken the governor s self-serving framing of the criminal justice reforms he recently signed into law and applied a lacquer of credibility laundering, in other words, his public relations work on a topic where his rhetoric and his actions don t line up much at all. It s a coup for the governor s flacks, but not a great look for a news outlet.