Law Commons^™

Reshaping A Fractured System: Arlen Specter’S Footprint On The Criminal Justice System In The U.S., Kaitlyn Brown

Arlen Specter Center Research Fellowship

The criminal justice system in the United States of America has been in peril since the beginning of the 1960’s, spiraling downward as the rates of crime shot upward across the country. Such drastic changes to a major system within the United States brought the issue of criminal justice to the forefront of nearly every political agenda of politicians in office. This paper examines the work one such politician, the late Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, performed in his fight against the crippling system. This paper evaluates the actions and policies Specter introduced, from his controversial Armed Career Criminal Act to …