[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7909-7913]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           CRISIS IN THE PHILADELPHIA CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, in a four-part series titled ``Justice: 
Delayed, Dismissed, Denied,'' published in December 2009, the 
Philadelphia Inquirer reported on the failure of the Philadelphia 
criminal justice system to provide fair and speedy justice. ``It is a 
system that too often fails to punish violent criminals, fails to 
protect witnesses, fails to catch thousands of fugitives, fails to 
decide cases on their merits--fails to provide justice.''i 
Given that Philadelphia has the highest violent crime rate among the 10 
largest cities in the United States, this is an urgent problem which 
Senator Specter has worked hard to address.
  In the past 5 months, Senator Specter has taken a leadership role by 
holding three Senate field hearings, bringing together the experts and 
key players in the criminal justice system to work collaboratively to 
find solutions to these problems. He has sought and obtained funding 
for the U.S. Marshals Service's Fugitive Task Force to provide 
assistance in locating and arresting Philadelphia's fugitives. Finally, 
he has introduced and supported significant legislation to better 
protect State witnesses, to fund State witness protection programs, and 
to fund State fugitive recovery efforts and the entry of State warrants 
into the national warrant database.
  Using statistics from the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania 
Courts and the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, the 
Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Philadelphia, among large urban 
counties, has the Nation's lowest felony conviction rate. For most big 
cities the conviction rate is 50 percent but for Philadelphia the 
conviction rate is only 20 percent, and that rate has been steadily 
declining over time. While the city's rate of conviction for murder is 
excellent--82 percent compared to the U.S. average of 71 percent--for 
other violent felonies it is abysmal: Nearly 2/3 of those charged with 
violent crime offenses walk free of all charges; Only 1 in 10 people 
charged with gun assaults is found guilty of that charge; Only 1 in 5 
accused armed robbers is convicted of that charge; Only 1 in 4 accused 
rapists is convicted of rape; One-half arrested for possession of 
illegal handguns beat the gun charges; and of the 4,500 who reported 
being robbed at gun point, only 200, or 4 percent of individuals were 
convicted.
  The Philadelphia Inquirer identified a number of systemic failings as 
contributing factors to this crisis, including increasing incidents of 
witness intimidation; exploding criminal caseloads incentivizing judges 
to dismiss cases rather than to try them (of the violent crime cases in 
2006 and 2007 disposed without a conviction, 92 percent were dropped or 
dismissed and only 8 percent of defendants were found not guilty); the 
number of judges not keeping pace with the substantial increase in 
criminal case filings (since 1989 the criminal docket has increased by 
51 percent but the number of judges has not changed; not surprisingly 
the number of dismissals has doubled). Additional contributing factors 
include trial delays caused by defense attorneys' delay tactics, which 
cause witnesses to stop coming to court and cases to be dismissed; 
dismissals because inmates and/or police officers routinely fail to 
timely appear in court; and a broken bail system causing Philadelphia 
to have 47,000 fugitives and to be tied with Newark, New Jersey as 
having the highest fugitive rate in the Nation.ii
  Senator Specter's significant actions to address this crisis and to 
restore confidence in the Philadelphia criminal justice system are 
detailed below.
  Witness intimidation and violent crime are problems that Senator 
Specter has worked on for decades, since he was an assistant district 
attorney and later district attorney in Philadelphia, and on the 
Judiciary Committee, where he has served since 1981 when he was first 
sworn in as a U.S. Senator.
  As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Crime and Drugs Subcommittee, 
Senator Specter chaired a field hearing in Philadelphia on witness 
intimidation at the State and local level on January 8, 
2010.iii This hearing brought together experts and leaders 
in the field to help find solutions for this pervasive and serious 
problem. At the hearing, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles 
Ramsey, as well as Michael Coard, a respected Philadelphia defense 
attorney, and Associate Professor Richard Frei, an academic, testified. 
Two parents, each of whom lost a child to gun violence, also testified. 
Barbara Clowden testified that her son Eric Hayes, then 17 years old, 
was killed just 2 days before he was to testify in an arson trial in 
Philadelphia. Because Eric's life had been threatened, in January 2006 
his family entered into the city's witness relocation program. 
Eventually the money from the program ran out and they had to relocate 
to northeast Philadelphia, where Eric was murdered. No one, to date, 
has been convicted of Eric's murder.
  Ted Canada, a Philadelphia resident and SEPTA bus driver, also 
testified. In 2005, his son Lamar Canada was shot 12 times and killed 
over an alleged gambling debt.iv One witness to the 
shooting, Johnta Gravitt, then 17 years old, was murdered 10 days after 
he testified at the preliminary hearing and identified one of the 
shooters. Another witness initially cooperated but after his statement 
to the police was publicly posted in his neighborhood identifying him 
as a ``snitch,'' he recanted.
  The most notorious example of witness intimidation in Philadelphia 
involves Kaboni Savage, a drug kingpin who was federally indicted last 
April on racketeering and murder charges for retaliating against his 
former drug associate, Eugene Coleman. Coleman had agreed to testify 
against Savage in a Federal trial. The Federal charges allege that to 
retaliate for this, Savage orchestrated the firebombing of Coleman's 
family home on the 3200 block of North 6th Street in Philadelphia 
during the early morning hours of October 9, 2004. Killed in the fire 
were Coleman's mother, Marcella Coleman, age 54; Coleman's infant son, 
Damir Jenkins, 15 months old; Marcella Coleman's niece, Tameka Nash, 
age 34, and her daughter, Khadjah Nash, age 10; Marcella Coleman's 
grandson, Tahj Porchea, age 12; and a family friend, Sean Rodriguez, 
age 15. In a conversation secretly recorded by court-authorized 
wiretaps, Savage explained how witness intimidation works, ``Without 
the witnesses, you don't have no case?. . . . No witness, no 
crime.''v
  The witness intimidation problem is exacerbated by internet sites, 
such as whosarat.com, which expose the identities of witnesses and 
government informants. Gang members and criminals

[[Page 7910]]

are becoming more computer savvy. They use the internet to find out who 
may be a cooperating witness by accessing public court dockets. They 
also access other sites to locate these individuals. With this 
information obtained anonymously through the Internet, gang members and 
other criminals can easily threaten or harm witnesses, as well as their 
family members.vi
  The ``stop snitching'' culture in Philadelphia has taken hold even 
among law abiding people. Years ago, popularized in movies and 
television, the code of silence started with organized crime and 
applied only to its members who used intimidation and highly visible 
acts of retaliation against those who broke it to maintain adherence to 
the code. Today that code of silence has involved into a popular and 
pervasive stop snitching culture.vii
  It has expanded to include threats against people who have no stake 
in a specific case and it is now directed toward anyone providing 
information to authorities. It has been strengthened by the strong 
distrust and alienation many urban youth have toward the police. It was 
shown at the hearing that the more people perceive the justice system 
to be biased, ineffective or corrupt, the more likely it is that they 
will resort to community self-protection and enforcement.
  As reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer on December 14, 2009, 
``[p]rosecutors, detectives, and even some defense attorneys say 
witness fear has become an unspoken factor in virtually every court 
case involving violent crime in Philadelphia. Reluctant or terrified 
witnesses routinely fail to appear in court, and when they do, they 
often recant their earlier testimony or statement to 
police.''viii One Philadelphia assistant district attorney 
is quoted in the article as saying that at least one witness in every 
murder trial recants. At times, the local prosecutors are forced to 
lock up witnesses on material witness warrants to assure their 
appearance at trial.ix
  In Philadelphia between 2006 and 2008, the District Attorney's Office 
filed witness intimidation charges against approximately 1,000 
individuals. Their conviction rate on these charges, however, is only 
28 percent.x
  Criminal trials cannot proceed unless there are witnesses, and if 
witnesses are subject to intimidation or even worse, murdered, criminal 
cases cannot go forward. And unless witnesses can be assured they will 
be protected, the problem of witness intimidation cannot be expected to 
go away. Philadelphia's witness relocation program was cut from a high 
of $988,000 in 2006-07 to $747,000 in 2008-09. On average last year the 
program spent $11,000 per witness. Compare that with the Federal 
witness protection program that spends on average $150,000 for each 
witness in the Federal program. More money is needed to fund 
Philadelphia's witness relocation program.
  It is imperative that people be protected if they step forward and 
provide information to law enforcement. As Philadelphia Police 
Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey testified at the subcommittee hearing, 
``the only way we're going to deal with crime in communities is when 
the community steps forward, but they have to feel comfortable in doing 
so and know they have support.''xi
  To better protect State witnesses from intimidation, threats, and 
violence, and to send loud and clear the message that serious penalties 
will be imposed on those who dare to obstruct justice in our country 
Senator Specter on February 23, 2010, introduced The State Witness 
Protection Act of 2010,'' S. 3017. The bill ensures that State 
witnesses will receive the same protections from actions of 
intimidation and retaliation that Federal witnesses have under Federal 
law. Making this a Federal offense and bringing in the FBI to 
investigate, as Commissioner Ramsey testified, ``would make a 
tremendous difference and make people think twice before they'' engaged 
in witness intimidation. Commission Ramsey explained it this way:

       I just think the whole environment or atmosphere when you 
     go into a Federal court versus a local court is just somewhat 
     different, and [defendants] haven't been exposed to it that 
     often. I just think it has an impact in the feedback I've 
     gotten from people on both sides, whether it's another law 
     enforcement agency or from a person who's been in the 
     criminal justice system. They do not want to go into Federal 
     court. (Tr. at 16).xii

  The bill tracks the language of the Federal witness tampering and 
intimidation statutes, 18 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 1512 and 1513, and provides 
the same penalties for crimes against State witnesses as now are 
provided for crimes against Federal witnesses. For State court 
proceedings, the bill makes it a Federal offense to kill, physically 
harm, threaten to physically harm, harass, or intimidate, or offer 
anything of value to, a State court witness or victim if done with the 
intent to influence another person's testimony; to induce another to 
withhold testimony or records, alter or destroy evidence, evade legal 
process, or be absent from a State proceeding if that person has been 
summoned by legal process; to hinder or prevent a person from providing 
information to law enforcement; or to retaliate against anyone for 
being a witness or for providing testimony or information to law 
enforcement.
  Federal jurisdiction is established by prosecuting only cases where 
there are communications in furtherance of the offense by mail, 
interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including computer, 
interstate or foreign travel in furtherance of the commission of the 
offense, or the use of weapons which have been shipped or transported 
across State lines. Any attempt or conspiracy to commit these same 
offenses is also illegal and subject to the same penalties. The bill 
also provides for specific sentencing guideline enhancements for all 
obstruction offenses.
  To further address the growing problem of witness intimidation, 
Senator Specter cosponsored, and voted out of Senate Judiciary 
Committee on March 22, 2010, the Witness Security and Protection Grant 
Program Act of 2010, H.R. 1741, a bill which authorizes $150 million in 
competitive grants over 5 years to State and local governments to 
establish witness assistance programs. Specifically, the bill requires 
the Attorney General to make competitive grants to State and local 
governments to establish and maintain short-term witness protection 
programs for court proceedings involving homicide, violent felonies, 
serious drug offenses, gangs, and/or organized crime. It also requires 
the Attorney General to collect data and develop best practices--
witness safety, short-term and permanent witness relocation, and 
financial and housing assistance--from the grantees and report this 
information back to Congress, States and other relevant entities. This 
legislation passed the House with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 
412-11 in June 2009. The bill is also supported by the National 
Governors Association, the National Conference of Mayors, the National 
District Attorney Association, and the National Center for Victims of 
Crime. It is currently pending action on the Senate floor.
  According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia bail system 
is broken.xiii For both the Court of Common Pleas and the 
Municipal Courts in Philadelphia, there are 48,511 cases in fugitive 
status and 39,110 individual fugitives. These numbers do not include 
probation absconders which, if added, would make the total individual 
fugitive number 46,839.xiv
  According to Bureau of Justice Statistics report from 2004, 
Philadelphia is tied with Newark, NJ, as having the Nation's highest 
fugitive felony rate of 11 percent. The problem is compounded because 
there are only 51 officers in the Warrant Unit,xv which is 
assigned the task of rounding up fugitives. That means each officer has 
a 900 fugitive case load.xvi The problem is further 
compounded by the fact that fugitives, after they are caught, are 
routinely released again on bail and no bail money, once again, is 
collected. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the city is owed $1 
billion in bail monies which cannot be collected because the Clerk of 
Quarter Sessions kept no computerized records.xvii
  To address the failure of law enforcement to track down and capture 
criminal fugitives, Senator Specter convened another Senate Judiciary 
Subcommittee field hearing on January 19,

[[Page 7911]]

2010, titled, ``Exploring Federal Solutions to the State and Local 
Fugitive Crisis.''xviii Seth Williams, the recently elected 
district attorney for the city of Philadelphia, testified at the 
hearing. Also testifying at the hearing were John Patrignani, the 
Acting U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; David 
Preski, the Chief of the Pre-Trial Service Division and the person in 
charge of the Warrant Unit; and Roy G. Weise, the Senior Adviser for 
the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Systems and a senior 
administrator in charge of the National Criminal Justice Information 
System, more commonly known as NCIC, the national warrant database. A 
representative from the Clerk of Quarter Sessions also testified. That 
hearing revealed that Philadelphia's fugitive problem, though very 
serious in scope, is not just a local problem but is in fact a 
significant national problem. Nationwide, there are an estimated 2.8 to 
3.2 million active Federal, State, and local outstanding felony 
warrants. Every day large numbers of fugitives evade capture because 
State and local law enforcement authorities have insufficient resources 
to find and arrest them. And even if found, State and local law 
enforcement authorities often do not have the funds to pay for the 
extradition of the fugitive to face trial. Shockingly, many fugitives 
are released without prosecution. Many fugitives go on to commit 
additional crimes.
  The nationwide database operated by the FBI's National Crime 
Information Center, NCIC, is missing over half of the country's 2.8 to 
3.2 million felony warrants, including warrants for hundreds of 
thousands of violent crimes. Fugitives who have fled to another State 
will not be caught--even if they are stopped and questioned by the 
police on a routine traffic stop--because their warrants have not been 
entered into the NCIC database.
  In early 2008, the St. Louis Post Dispatch published a series of 
articles--affirmed by the Department of Justice--documenting law 
enforcement's widespread failure to find and arrest 
fugitives.xix For purposes of the series, ``fugitive'' 
included un-arrested suspects with pending warrants that law 
enforcement cannot find, and those who cannot be found after violating 
the rules of their pre-trial detention, probation, or parole. The 
articles revealed that the reach of this national problem is extensive 
and cited federal estimates from 2 years ago that as many as an 
estimated 800,000 to 1.6 million outstanding State or local warrants 
are inaccessible to law enforcement outside the State or locality in 
which they were issued because the information about the warrants had 
not been entered into the NCIC database.
  In Philadelphia, while all warrants, including bench warrants, are 
entered into a State database, only a few warrants are entered into the 
NCIC database. The hearing established a little known fact: that the 
Philadelphia Police Department only entered into the NCIC database a 
few hundred bench warrants deemed by the District Attorney's Office to 
concern extraditable offenses and, surprisingly, the Police Departments 
made these entries manually and not by automatic computer 
transfers.xx Thus, those who abscond from criminal 
proceedings in Philadelphia and flee to other States likely will not be 
captured because information from their warrants was not automatically 
entered into the NCIC database.
  To make our communities safer by increasing the number of State and 
local fugitives arrested and prosecuted, Senator Specter, along with 
Senator Durbin, on March 16, 2010, introduced the Fugitive Information 
Networked Database Act of 2010, known as the FIND Act, S. 3120. Based 
on legislation that then-Senator Joe Biden and Senator Durbin 
introduced in 2008, the FIND Act bolsters the effectiveness of the NCIC 
database by providing grants for local governments to develop and 
implement warrant systems that are interoperable with the NCIC 
database. The bill also provides funding for authorities to extradite 
fugitives for prosecution.
  Specifically, the FIND Act improves the entry and validation of 
State, local and tribal warrants in the NCIC database by authorizing 
$10 million for grants each fiscal year 2011 through 2015. It increases 
for States, local and Indian tribes the resources available for 
extraditing fugitives between States and tribal regions by authorizing 
$30 million for grants each fiscal year 2011 through 2015. The bill 
also encourage States, local and tribes to reduce the cost of 
extradition by using the U.S. Marshals Service's Justice Prisoner and 
Alien Transportation Service, JPATS, to transport fugitives back to the 
jurisdiction which issued the warrant and requires grant participants 
which seek renewal grants to provide detailed reports to ascertain 
whether State, local and tribal pretrial release programs are operating 
effectively. To make certain that funds are properly spent, the bill 
directs GAO to submit a statistical report to the House and Senate 
Judiciary Committees on felony warrants issued by State, local, and 
tribal governments and entered into the NCIC database, and on the 
apprehension and extradition of persons with active felony warrants.
  This important legislation is designed to facilitate State and local 
data entry into the NCIC database through grants, increase the 
extradition of fugitives travelling in interstate commerce and to 
ascertain whether pretrial release programs are operating effectively. 
The fugitive problem is national in scope, involves individuals 
travelling in interstate commerce, and requires Federal solutions.
  After the January 19, 2010, field hearing, on February 24, 2010, 
Senator Specter wrote to the Director of the U.S. Marshals Service, 
USMS, to advise him ``that Philadelphia has the highest violent crime 
rate in the United States among the ten largest cities and the highest 
felony fugitive rate in the nation,'' and therefore critically needed 
additional funding for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania's fugitive 
task force. On April 2, 2010, John F. Clark, the Director of the U.S. 
Marshals Service, responded to Senator Specter's letter and said that 
the agency would expand the Philadelphia regional office by at least 10 
marshals and staff to ``work aggressively to address the fugitive 
problem in Philadelphia.''
  As part of Senator Specter's continued efforts to address the 
Philadelphia fugitive crisis, he has made several program funding 
requests for fiscal year 2011 to support the USMS and its partners, 
including: $1.207 billion for the U.S. Marshals Service, increased 
funding for the Edward Byrne memorial justice grants, and $792 million 
for the COPS program. Additionally, Senator Specter has requested 
report language that would direct $20 million to be used to support the 
establishment of a Regional Fugitive Task Force in Philadelphia.
  On May 3, 2010, Senator Specter chaired the third and final Judiciary 
Crime Subcommittee hearing to bring leaders in the criminal justice 
system together to find innovative and cost effective solutions to 
improve the quality and efficiency of the criminal justice system in 
Philadelphia, as well as for similarly overburdened state criminal 
courts.xxi Lynne M. Abraham, former district attorney for 
Philadelphia, Justice Seamus McCaffery, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 
Everett Gillison, deputy mayor for public safety for the city of 
Philadelphia, Ellen Greenlee, chief defender, Philadelphia, and 
Professor John Goldkamp, chair of the Criminal Justice Department at 
Temple University, testified. The hearing emphasized the need for all 
the key players--the courts, the prosecutors, the defenders and the 
city--to work in a collaborative fashion to find solutions to these 
complex and systemic problems. The subcommittee and witnesses explored 
the following ideas:
  Community based prosecutions and zone courts. Sending police officers 
to many different courtrooms is wasteful and inefficient. A simple 
solution is reorganizing the criminal courts along geographic lines so 
that judges are assigned to handle all cases from a particular police 
division. Zone courts are more efficient and lead to fewer dismissal of 
cases, fewer trial delays and provide more judicial economy and 
accountability.

[[Page 7912]]

  Improving computer systems for both the District Attorney's Office 
and the Defenders Office. This would expedite discovery and permit 
faster and more efficient administration of justice. Offices should be 
able to have networked case files and operate as a paperless office. 
This would require extensive capital investment.
  Institute new diversion programs for nonviolent and low risk 
offenders.
  Establish more specialty treatment courts, such as mental health 
courts, veterans courtsxxii and re-entry courts, to reduce 
recidivism.
  Reform the bail system. Professor Goldkamp, an expert on 
Philadelphia's bail system, recommended improving the pre-trial release 
system to one which makes decisions about release and confinement based 
on the characteristics of the defendants, not by how much cash they can 
post. Risky defendants should be detained, with due-process 
protections, but those who do not need confinement to meet their 
obligations or those who do not pose that much risk, like most addicted 
defendants, should not be jailed. Drug addicted defendants should go to 
treatment; mentally ill defendants should be directed to appropriate 
support services.
  Find effective ways to address the anti-snitch culture, including 
public service announcements and community outreach.
  The Philadelphia Inquirer's ``Justice: Delayed, Dismissed, Denied'' 
series rightly identified and proved a number of the systemic failings 
in the Philadelphia criminal justice system which have contributed to 
Philadelphia having an unacceptably low conviction rate for violent 
crimes and an unacceptably high rate of fugitives. Many of these 
problems have been around for decades and over the years have only 
gotten worse. By using statistics from the Administrative Office of the 
Pennsylvania Courts and the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the 
Philadelphia Inquirer convincingly turned a harsh light on what many in 
the criminal justice system have known, and what many have chosen to 
ignore.
  Professor Goldkamp stated at the May 3, 2010, Senate field hearing, 
``I think that opportunity comes in at a time of crisis and concern.'' 
But if the needed changes are not made, Professor Goldkamp said ``the 
Philadelphia court system risks being held up nationally as an example 
of a dysfunctional court system.''xxiii
  Senator Specter noted at the final field hearing that the 
Philadelphia Inquirer's series was a ``motivating factor'' in his 
working to obtain Federal assistance to local and overburdened courts. 
Now is the time for change and Senator Specter--by holding three Senate 
field hearings, by seeking and obtaining funding for the U.S. Marshal's 
fugitive task force, and finally, by introducing and supporting key 
legislation to better protect State witnesses, to fund State witness 
protection programs, and to fund State fugitive recovery efforts and 
the entry of State warrants into the national warrant database--is 
working hard to make those changes.


                                ENDNOTES

       i``Justice: Delayed, Dismissed, Denied,'' by 
     Craig R. McCoy, Nancy Phillips and Dylan Purcell, 
     Philadelphia Inquirer, December 13, 2009. Available at: 
     <http://www.philly.com/philly/news/79150347.html>.
       iiId.
       iii``Federal Efforts to Address Witness 
     Intimidation at the State and Local Level.'' Senate Committee 
     on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime & Drugs, Philadelphia, 
     Pennsylvania, 8 January 2010. Hearing notice available at: 
     <http://judiciary.senate.gov/
hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4278>.
       iv``Testimony by Theodore L. Canada.'' Senate 
     Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime & Drugs, 
     Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 8 January 2010. Available at: 
     <http://judiciary.senate.gov/pdf/1-08-09%20
     Canada%20Testimony.pdf>.
       vNancy Phillips, Craig R. McCoy, and Dylan 
     Purcell. ``Witnesses fear reprisals, and cases crumble.'' The 
     Philadelphia Inquirer. 14 December 2009. Available at: 
     <http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/79196597.html.>
       viFrei, Richard. ``Witness Intimidation and the 
     Snitching Project.'' Senate Committee on the Judiciary 
     Subcommittee on Crime & Drugs, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 8 
     January 2010. Available at: <http://judiciary
.senate.gov/pdf/1-08-09%20Frei%20Testimony
.pdf>.
       viiId.
       viiiNancy Phillips, Craig R. McCoy, and Dylan 
     Purcell. ``Witnesses fear reprisals, and cases crumble.'' The 
     Philadelphia Inquirer. 14 December 2009. Available at: 
     <http://www
.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/79196597.html.>
       ixId.
       x``Justice: Delayed, Dismissed, Denied,'' by 
     Craig R. McCoy, Nancy Phillips and Dylan Purcell, 
     Philadelphia Inquirer, December 13, 2009. Available at: 
     <http://www.philly.com/philly/news/79150347.html>.
       xi``Testimony from Police Commissioner Charles 
     H. Ramsey, Philadelphia Police Department.'' Senate Committee 
     on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime & Drugs, Philadelphia, 
     Pennsylvania, 19 January 2010. Available at: http://
judiciary.senate.gov/pdf/1-08-09%20Ramsey%20Testimony.pdf.
       xiiId.
       xiii``Violent Criminals Flout Broken Bail 
     System,'' by Dylan Purcell, Craig R. McCoy and Nancy 
     Phillips, Philadelphia Inquirer, December 15, 2009. Available 
     at: <http://www.philly.com/inquirer/special/20091215_
     Violent_ Criminals_Flout_Broken_Bail_
     System.html>.
       xivThere are many more outstanding fugitive 
     warrants from Municipal Court than from the Court of Common 
     Pleas. For example, there are 6,044 individual fugitives on 
     bench warrants issued by the Philadelphia Court of Common 
     Pleas compared with the 34,331 individual fugitives on bench 
     warrants issued by the Philadelphia Municipal Courts. 
     Statistics are from Terry Bigley, Director of Office of 
     Network Systems and Office Automation, Department of 
     Information and Technology Services, for the First Judicial 
     District of Pennsylvania.
       xvThe Warrant Unit is part of the court system's 
     Pre-trial Services.
       xviThe Philadelphia Police Department does not 
     have a fugitive squad.
       xviiIndeed, an audit of the Clerk of Quarter 
     Sessions office released in March 2009 for fiscal years 2008 
     and 2007 found serious problems--that the office did not 
     conduct monthly reconciliations for the Cash Bail Account and 
     the Cash Bail Refund Account, did not forward bank 
     reconciliations causing $26.8 million to be omitted from the 
     City's preliminary financial statement, and did not report to 
     the City a $352.8 million receivable for Fines, Costs and 
     Restitution, as well as the $1 billion receivable for 
     forfeited bail. The head of the office, Vivian Miller, 
     resigned, effective March 31, 2010, and the Philadelphia 
     Inquirer reported on April 28, 2010 that Philadelphia Mayor 
     Michael Nutter was moving to abolish the office.
       xviiiHearing notice available at: <http://
judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=
 4334>.
       xixMahr, Joe. ``Free to Flee.'' St. Louis 
     Dispatch, 2008. Available at: <http://interact
.stltoday.com/mds/news/html/1252>.
       xxWhen a bench warrant is issued by the 
     Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and/or Municipal Court in 
     Philadelphia, it is entered into a state-wide criminal case 
     management system called CP/CMS by court staff. CP/CMS 
     electronically transfers that information to the Philadelphia 
     Police Department (PPD) which, in turn, electronically 
     transfers the data to CLEAN, the Commonwealth Law Enforcement 
     Assistance Network database. CLEAN is a computer system used 
     by the Commonwealth's criminal justice agencies for a variety 
     of purposes, including searching for outstanding warrants 
     whenever an individual is detained or taken into custody. 
     From CLEAN the bench warrant data should be electronically 
     transferred to NCIC, the FBI's National Crime Information 
     Center, and to Nlets, the International Justice and Public 
     Safety Information Sharing Network. However, this is not yet 
     occurring in Philadelphia. Instead, in Philadelphia all 
     entries into NCIC are done manually by the Philadelphia 
     Police Department and only those bench warrants designated by 
     the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office as extraditable 
     warrants are entered into NCIC. For a bench warrant to be 
     extraditable, the ADA must get approval from his/her deputy. 
     Usually approval is reserved for those offenders who have 
     significant criminal histories, a number of failures to 
     appear, and/or serious pending criminal charges.
       xxi``Helping Find Innovative and Cost Effective 
     Solutions to Overburdened State Criminal Courts.'' Senate 
     Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime & Drugs, 
     Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 3 March 2010. Hearing notice 
     available at: (http://judiciary
.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4558).
       xxiiOn March 1, 2010 Senator Specter held a 
     Judiciary Crime Subcommittee field hearing in Pittsburgh on 
     the need for greater federal resources for specialty 
     treatment courts for veterans. Following the hearing, Senator 
     Specter cosponsored the Services, Education, and 
     Rehabilitation for Veterans Act, known as the SERV Act (S. 
     902), a bill which authorizes the Attorney General to award 
     grants up to $25 million over five years to states to develop 
     Veterans Courts or expand operational drug courts to serve 
     veterans charged with non-violent offenses.
       xxiiiNancy Phillips and Craig R. McCoy. 
     ``Abraham defends work, criticizes city justice system.'' The 
     Philadelphia Inquirer 4 May 2010. Available at: <http://www.
philly.com/inquirer/front_ page/20100504_


[[Page 7913]]

     Abraham_defends_work_ criticizes_city_
     justice_system.html>.

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