WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) joined Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) at the Washington Post Juvenile Justice Summit for a discussion about juvenile justice reform and sentencing reform. Senator Tillis stressed the need for members of the Senate to work past the far-right and far-left in order to pass criminal justice reform legislation.
In 2011 as North Carolina Speaker of the House, Tillis spearheaded the passage of the Justice Reinvestment Act, sweeping criminal justice reform legislation, and several juvenile justice reforms. In the Senate, Tillis has continued his advocacy for criminal and juvenile justice reform and is a co-sponsor of the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act.
TWC News: Sen. Tillis Pushes Criminal Justice Reform
“With a Democratic US senator sitting by his side, North Carolina Republican senator Thom Tillis told a summit this week, it is time for bipartisan criminal justice reform.
“95 percent of the people who go into prisons generally come out,” Tillis said in an interview on Thursday. “Now we can identify a segment of that population that may not be violent offenders that if we get them into the right kind of program. They will come out and they will live productive lives and not be unsafe in our community.”
Tillis says this is going to need to be an effort that both sides get on board with, saying that both the far right and far left should not control the conversation.”
McClatchy DC: Tillis says he may not return if bills like sentencing changes aren’t passed
“Tillis, R-N.C., has sought to make revamping the nation’s criminal justice system one of his signature issues since arriving in Washington in 2015, leaning on his experience in pushing through North Carolina’s Justice Reinvestment Act when he was state House speaker in 2011.
Tillis said North Carolina showed that such measures could get done, even over doubts that anything less than a tough-on-crime stance would be politically damaging.
He told a forum on juvenile justice in Washington that “I don’t run again until 2020, and if we’re not able to get things like this done, I don’t have any intention of coming back.”
The crowd applauded in response.
Asked after his talk about whether he was serious about not running, Tillis replied, “I came here to get things done.””
Roll Call: Tillis Might Not be Back After 2020 if Things Don’t Get Done
““I don’t know if senators normally come up and talk this way but I’m tired of everybody sitting on the sidelines, waving at their parades and never playing the game,” Tillis said. “This is a critically important issue. This is a solvable problem.”
Tillis pointed out that he worked on criminal justice overhaul legislation while he was speaker of the North Carolina House. He worked to pass the Justice Reinvestment Act, which altered the state’s sentencing laws, as well as other measures relating to juvenile justice.
“Everybody told me when I did this that I would be cooked. That there was no way I could run for statewide office,” Tillis said. “Here I am.”
“And so the fact of the matter is we need people to stand up and understand that political courage is Chris going to his caucus, me going to my caucus, and say, ‘Stop it. It is time to solve this problem,’” Tillis said. “And if we do that, we’ll solve it.””
The Hill: GOP senator floats retiring over gridlock
“Sen. Thom Tillis warned Wednesday that he could retire instead of running for reelection if Congress isn’t able to pass bipartisan measures like a wide-ranging criminal justice bill.
“I don’t run again until 2020, and if we’re not able to get things like this done, I don’t have any intention of coming back,” the North Carolina Republican said during a juvenile justice forum, according to McClatchy.
Pressed after the forum if he was serious about his threat to retire, Tillis said, “I came here to get things done.”
Newsmax: Tillis Threatens Retirement If Criminal Justice Reform, Other Bipartisan Bills Don’t Pass
“‘We need to tell the far-right and the far-left to go away and have people in the center solve the problem,” Tillis added. “It is time to tell the far-left and the far-right to get productive or get out of the way because we need to solve this problem.
“People bring up Willie Horton or some other political bombshell in the past, but what they’re not being intellectually honest about is, if we do not work on early release, if we do not rehabilitate 95 percent of the people who go into the prison system and come out, far more innocent people are going to be harmed.
“I’m not going to play that political game. The stakes are too high.””
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