Preate also successfully argued another landmark case, Blystone v. Pennsylvania in the United States Supreme Court addressing the death penalty.
He now believes that as it has been applied, it falls unevenly and unfairly on people of color, and that the criminal justice system often inadequately provides effective assistance of counsel to those accused.
[citation needed] As a lobbyist, Preate has promoted legislative consideration of public policy initiatives such as provision of tests to prisoners.
[citation needed] In the Spring of 2008, he testified before the U.S. Congress at the request of Representative John Dingell (Democrat from Michigan), Chair House Judiciary Committee on the reforms to the Prisoner Litigation Control Act.
[citation needed] He attributes his changed views to the insight and perspective he experienced as a defendant and prisoner in the Criminal Justice System, and, to his near-death experience as a result of a motorcycle accident he suffered in June, 1997.
The Lifers’ Association of Prisoners recently thanked him saying, “You now walk among the powerless, yet your goal remains fixed: Justice for the rich and the poor”.
[citation needed] He is a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature's Joint State Government Commission's Advisory Committee studying the reasons for the wrongful incarceration of so many innocent prisoners.
completed a two-year term as Chairman of the Board of a regional agency for seven counties in Northeastern Pennsylvania that promotes economic development and aid to local governments.