Nearly a year ago, I took over as Chairman of the Crime and Drugs Subcommittee on Judiciary which has jurisdiction over many areas, including the Department of Justice and the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

It’s been an active time on the Subcommittee and, in an ongoing effort to remain accountable to my constituents, I’ve provided an extensive report on the Subcommittee’s activities which you can access here.   Below are highlights of some of the major issues we’ve tackled:

• Health Care Fraud – Medicare and Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse in both government and private health insurance drains up to $220 billion from the system annually. I held a hearing to examine this white collar crime that wastes billions in taxpayer dollars and subsequently introduced a bill which strengthens tools to investigate, prosecute and punish health care criminals.

• Fighting violent crime in our communities – Cities across the nation are plagued by a rise in violent crimes. As a lengthy series in the Philadelphia Inquirer revealed, this problem is exacerbated by flaws in the criminal justice system. Witness intimidation and a broken bail system make it difficult to prosecute and punish violent criminals. I held two field hearings in Philadelphia to examine these problems, and I am championing legislation to give state and local agencies the resources they need to fight crime. These bills would: adequately fund witness protection programs, make it a federal crime to threaten a witness; and provide funding to coordinate local and national crime databases so that we can better track and apprehend fugitives. 

• Justice for Veterans – Allegheny County has established a special veterans court - one of several in the nation - in which veterans who have been charged with a crime voluntarily enter into an intensely monitored network of support in order to reduce the likelihood they will commit additional crimes. I held a hearing on the Veterans Court which evaluated the need for greater federal resources so that veterans who have served us so honorably can receive the proper support services they may need, including mental health care. The hearing prompted me to cosponsor the SERV Act, a bill which authorizes grants to states to develop Veterans Courts or to expand operational drug courts to serve veterans charged with non-violent offenses. 

• Financial Regulation – From Enron to Bernie Madoff to Allen Stanford, the public has been wrongfully duped out of billions of dollars in securities fraud. I held a hearing to examine the shortcomings by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission in prosecuting people associated with these manipulative crimes. I subsequently introduced legislation – a form of which was included in Senator Chris Dodd’s financial reform legislation – to establish tools to sue anyone who recklessly and knowingly assists in such securities violations.

• Reforming our Criminal Justice System – Senator Jim Webb and I have introduced legislation to establish a blue-ribbon commission charged with conducting an 18-month, top-to-bottom review of the nation’s entire criminal justice system. Our system is in serious need of reform: with five percent of the world’s population, our country houses twenty-five percent of the world’s prison population; incarcerated drug offenders have soared 1200% since 1980; and four times as many mentally ill people are in prisons than in mental health hospitals. This commission would offer concrete recommendations on sentencing policies, gang violence, prison administration and reintegration of offenders with the view of improving public safety, cost-effectiveness and fairness. 

I have served on the Senate Judiciary Committee since I was first elected in 1980. Dating back to my service as District Attorney of Philadelphia, I believe it is both an honor and a unique challenge to work on criminal justice matters. I will continue to focus on making our communities safer.

As always, I want to hear from you. Please contact me through any one of my eight offices located throughout the state and in Washington, or through my website.

Sincerely, 
Arlen Specter

p.s. Look for announcements about an upcoming hearing I’m holding on the merits of televising the Supreme Court’s proceedings. Saturday’s New York Times had a positive editorial that mentions my Senate Resolution to increase transparency in this high court.