Kennedy, Booker reintroduce bipartisan bill to give law enforcement more tools to solve crimes

Jillian Snider, Resident Senior Fellow, Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties, at the R Street Institute, and a retired NYPD officer, weighs in and supports the VICTIM Act of 2026.

“The R Street Institute strongly supports the VICTIM Act of 2026. Decades of research confirm that the certainty of apprehension is the most powerful deterrent to crime, yet clearance rates for serious offenses remain alarmingly low. This critical legislation would provide targeted grants to improve clearance rates by supporting detective recruitment and retention, forensic and digital evidence capacity, and sophisticated analytic methods like Gun Violence Problem Analysis. Furthermore, it funds trauma-informed investigator training and direct services for victims and surviving family members. We applaud Senators John Kennedy (R-LA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) for their bipartisan leadership and urge their colleagues to join this essential effort.”

Read the full press release here.