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Description
From the Stated Meeting of Philadelphia City Council held Thursday, December 13, 2018:
Councilman David Oh (At Large) led a presentation honoring State Senator Stewart Greenleaf on the occasion of his retirement and thanking him for his commitment to Criminal Justice Reform.
Read the resolution: http://bit.ly/2S2H6IQ
A
B
A
C
Just
want
to
know
why
you're
taking
early
retirement,
okay,
whereas
no
member
of
the
Pennsylvania
General
Assembly,
has
been
the
prime
sponsor
of
his
many
bill
signed
into
law
as
Senator
Greenleaf.
Since
1977
he
has
been
the
prime
sponsor
of
more
than
160
bills,
an
average
of
four
per
year
that
have
been
signed
into
state
law
by
seven
governors.
He
has
also
been
influential
in
the
passage
of
an
additional
155
pieces
of
legislation
that
became
law
for
which
he
was
not
the
prime
sponsor
and.
D
Whereas
a
former
Montgomery
County
assistant
district
attorney,
senator
Greenleaf
has
chaired
the
Senate
Judiciary
Committee
since
1985
his
efforts
have
reduced
recidivism
and
helped
returning
defendants
to
be
productive
citizens,
and
whereas
senator
Greenleaf
has
built
a
sterling
reputation
as
a
pragmatic,
independent
thinking,
legislator,
who
will
who
is
willing
to
cross
aisles
to
work
for
the
common
good
and
announcing
his
retirement.
He
said
and
mantra
has
always
been
that
there
is
no
Republican
or
Democrat
idea.
E
Whereas
among
senator
Greenleaf's,
most
notable
legislative
contributions
are
a
constitutional
amendment
adopted
in
1996
which
allows
child
witnesses
to
testify
via
closed-circuit
television
and
Megan's
Law,
which
protects
children
from
sexual
predators
and
whereas,
towards
the
end
of
his
final
term,
senator
green
leaves
shepherded
three
bills.
He
sponsored
through
the
legislature
to
become
law.
The
safe
harbor
bill,
Senate
bill
554
prevents
child
victims
of
human
trafficking
and
sexual
exploitation
from
being
criminally
prosecuted
for
crimes.
They
have
been
forced
or
coerced
to
commit
Senate
bill.
E
Nine
one
five
extends
the
time
period
for
the
filing
of
a
post-conviction
relief
petition
under
Pennsylvania's
post-conviction
Relief
Act
from
60
days
to
one
year
when
new
evidence
is
discovered,
Senate
bill,
nine
one
six
allows
expanded,
post-conviction
DNA
testing
to
prove
innocence
when
new
technology
would
yield
more
accurate
and
probative
probative
results
than
technology
available.
At
the
time
of
the
trial,
all
three
bills
were
signed
into
law
on
October,
24th,
2018
and.
F
Whereas
the
citizens
of
Philadelphia
and
all
Pennsylvania's
Pennsylvanians
have
benefited
from
the
tireless
effort
of
Senator
Stewart
Greenleaf
to
improve
the
criminal
justice
system
over
the
past
four
decades
from
protecting
children
and
victims
to
preventing
unjust
punishment
from
being
executed.
Punishment
from
being
executed,
senior
Green
League
deserves
enormous
gratitude
from
all
the
citizens
of
the
Commonwealth
and
now
there
be
it
resolved
that
by
the
Council
of
the
City
of
Philadelphia,
that
we
hereby
recognize
and
honor
state
senator
Stewart
Greenleaf
on
this
occasion
of
his
retirement
and
thanks
him
for
his
commitment
to
criminal
justice
reform.
G
G
What
I
went
to
up
to
Harrisburg
I
had
a
history
of
being
pretty
tough
on
crime.
Very
tough
on
crime
and
I
was
a
prosecutor
for
eight
years,
tried.
Murder
cases
was
chief
of
appeals,
division,
argue
cases
and
in
front
of
the
Pennsylvania
United
State
Supreme
Court
cases
and
I
was
pretty
draconian,
but
then
I
came
to
what
I
call
my
Road
my
road
to
Damascus
experience
and
that
they
were
approached
when
I
had
a
hearing
on
the
matter
on
these
matters.
G
Of
that
we
had
convicted
innocent
people
and
I
said:
there's
no
way
that
happened
in
Bellamy,
County
or
in
Pennsylvania,
and
they
were
persistent
about
and
they
said
there
were,
and
if
you
give
us
an
opportunity
to
have
better
DNA
testing
will
prove
it
to
you.
So
I
was
not
afraid
of
that.
So,
okay,
let's
do
it
so
I
passed
the
legislation
on
better
access
to
DNA
evidence
and
lo
and
behold
we
did
convicted
innocent
people.
G
G
What
we
were
doing
was
a
failed
system.
We
had,
we
thought
that
being
tough
on
crime
was
going
to
solve
all
our
problems
and
just
the
opposite
happened.
The
tougher
we
got
the
higher
the
recidivism
rate
and
went
up.
Actually
it
went
up
as
high
as
64
percent
recidivism
rate.
That's
two
out
of
three
in
Mesa
left.
Our
state
prisons
returned
there
within
three
years.
That's
a
failed,
failed
system
and
it
was
a
system
that
I
helped
create.
G
I
was
the
author
of
the
mandatory
minimum
sentences
and
numerous
other
opportunities
that
we
thought
would
make
our
streets
safer
and
be
successful?
It's,
but
it's
all
counterintuitive!
That's
not
the
situation.
That's
not
what
that's
not
what
happened?
We
were
spending
millions
of
dollars
in
building
new
prisons.
We
had
to
build
a
new
state
prison,
a
new
state
prison
every
year
to
stay
up
tonight
to
stay
up
there
with
the
number
of
inmates
that
we
had
coming
in.
G
It
was
just
to
burrow
in
money
and,
oh
you
know,
I
would
mind
doing
that
for
successful,
but
a
64%
of
the
rate
is
not
successful
and
we
were
spending
a
lot
of
money
that
the
department
Corrections
was
the
fastest
growing
department
in
the
state
of
Pennsylvania
failed,
failed
system,
though
so
we
decide
to
make
some
minor
changes
and
in
the
in
the
law.
We
finally
got
that
through,
because
there
was
still
holding
on
to
this
idea.
G
They're,
tough,
you
get
the
safer,
we
are
and
that's
just
the
opposite,
and
so
we
introduced
some
bills
in
regard
to
incentives
when
people
would
be
getting
early,
parole
and
early
release,
and
things
like
that
minor
compared
to
what
we
needed
to
be
doing-
and
you
know
what
the
result
was
of
recidivism
rate,
went
down
to
40
percent
and
we
ended
rate,
and
there
are
inner
Violent
Crimes
didn't
come
that
we
could
up
either.
So
it
was
safer
and
we
save
millions
I'm
telling
you
millions
of
dollars
in
a
saved
of
prison
cause
a
reduction.
G
Our
and
our
inmates
went
down
the
violence
increased.
No,
that
was
going
down
it
kept
going
down.
Everything
we
did
that
were,
we
were
told,
was
going
to
cause
havoc
in
our
streets
and
created
all
kinds
of
opportunities
for
criminal
activity
was
just
the
opposite,
and
most
of
these
offenders
were
nonviolent
offenders.
They
weren't
violent
offenders.
There
were
nonviolent
offenders
and
we
were
making
then
violent
offenders
and
turning
them
into
tougher
prisons.
G
So
next
session
we
will
have
a
little
loot
left
the
whole
flew
about
20
bills
and
other
bills
there
that
are
ready
to
go.
If
you
can
imagine
if
we
passed
even
a
fraction
of
those
bills,
what
would
happen
to
our
costs
and
our
recidivism
rate?
It's
counterintuitive,
but
it's
correct.
This
is
the
way
to
go.
We
needed
to
go.
I
was
going
in
the
wrong
direction
and
I
had
my
road
to
Damascus
experience
and
we're
going
to
continue
on
I
left
the
holes
whole
agenda
of
what
my
colleagues
are.
G
G
Thank
you,
God
says
he
all
gives
us
all.
Second
chances
right
and
in
this
situation,
we're
going
to
see
a
major
changes
next
session
and
I
urge
you
to
support
your
state
legislators
and
have
the
courage
to
stand
up
and
say
that
this
is
not
right.
This
is
not
successful.
This
is
not.
This
is
not
going
to
let
our
people
be
commit
a
lot
of
crimes.
It's
going
to
do
just
the
opposite.
I
know
it's
counterintuitive,
but
it
will
work.
Thank
you
and
thank
you.
God
bless
you.