Presidential Candidate Questionnaire on Criminal Justice Reform
Senator Amy Klobuchar
1. Candidates unanimously agree on the need for justice reform. What is your primary reason for supporting reduction of the prison population? (Please select one)
a. To rectify racial injustices that disproportionately affect people of color.
b. To make our justice system more cost effective and save taxpayer dollars.
c. To provide individuals who have made mistakes with a second chance to live law-abiding lives.
d. To end unfair practices that negatively impact individuals in lower socio-economic brackets.
e. To improve the safety of our communities and lower the crime rate.
f. Other.
Our criminal justice system is broken. Today the United States has more than 20 percent of the world's incarcerated people, even though our country accounts for less than 5 percent of the world's population. And racial disparities at every level of our system have removed millions of people of color from our society, destroying families and communities for generations. Senator Klobuchar believes we have to completely reform our criminal justice system. She has three bold goals: First, she will enact historic sentencing reforms and allow current non-violent and low-level offenders to petition for alternatives to incarceration with the goals of reducing the prison population by 20 percent over the next decade and eventually achieving further reductions in the prison population. Second, she will invest in reentry services for returning citizens and reform probation and parole with the goal of reducing recidivism rates by 20 percent in 10 years. Third, as President, Senator Klobuchar will make a historic investment in our public defenders. She will increase resources for public defenders with the goal of achieving resource parity with our federal prosecutors. In addition, the Senator’s criminal justice reform will prioritize juvenile justice, drug and mental health courts, law enforcement reforms and violence prevention.
2. Candidates have put forward lengthy criminal justice reform plans with dozens of proposed reforms. What is the first criminal justice reform bill that you would put before Congress as President? (Please select one)
a. A bill to remove or reduce mandatory minimum sentences.
b. A bill to provide financial incentives to states that reduce their prison populations.
c. A bill to reform the probation system or reinstate parole in the federal system.
d. A bill to reform the bail system.
e. A bill to reform drug laws.
f. A bill to allow judges more flexibility in sentencing defendants to alternatives to prison.
g. A bill to end private prisons.
h. A bill to support police or prosecutorial reform.
i. A bill to increase opportunities for early release or remove barriers to successful reentry.
j. Other.
Congress passed the First Step Act – legislation Senator Klobuchar cosponsored – which changed the overly harsh sentencing laws on nonviolent drug offenders and reformed our federal prisons. But the reform only applies to those held in the federal system. The new law doesn’t help the nearly 90% of people incarcerated in state and local facilities. As part of a package of criminal justice reform policies, Senator Klobuchar has pledged that in her first 100 days she will introduce legislation to work with state and local governments to restore some discretion from mandatory sentencing for nonviolent offenders and reform the unconscionable conditions in state prisons and local jails.
3. What is the first executive action that you would take as President on criminal justice reform? (Please select one)
a. Reform or expand the clemency process.
b. Repeal harsh prosecutorial directives of the Justice Department.
c. End the federal use of private prisons.
d. Establish a criminal justice reform commission.
e. Establish an oversight division for the Bureau of Prisons.
f. Fill vacancies in the United States Sentencing Commission.
g. Other.
As part of her plan for the first 100 days of her Presidency, Senator Klobuchar will create a clemency advisory board as well as a position in the White House — outside of the Department of Justice — that advise the President from a criminal justice reform perspective. The clemency advisory board will immediately begin to investigate and review requests for clemency for federal offenses and ultimately prepare a recommendation for the President. In addition, as part of her plan for her first 100 days, Senator Klobuchar will reverse former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s memo limiting federal prosecutors discretion and requiring them to seek the most severe penalties possible in all cases, fill vacancies in the United States Sentencing Commission, phase out the use of private prisons, start the evaluation process to reschedule marijuana, direct the Attorney General to issue a memorandum to federal prosecutors to strengthen prosecution efforts for individuals who are personally responsible for white-collar, corporate crime and tax fraud, and restore the Smart on Crime initiative, which had been hailed as a positive step forward in rehabilitating drug users by focusing on more serious drug cases and fewer indictments carrying mandatory minimums. In her first 100 days, she will also introduce legislation to work with states and localities to restore some discretion from mandatory sentencing for nonviolent offenders and reform the unconscionable conditions in state prisons and local jails.
4. What is the biggest step that you would take to combat systemic racial bias in the justice system? (Please select one)
a. Remove sentencing disparities for drug-related sentences.
b. Implement reforms to reduce the overall prison population.
c. End racial profiling across the justice system.
d. Divert low-level offenders away from jail and prison time.
e. Reform federal prosecutorial practices, or support local police reform.
f. End the school-to-prison pipeline.
g. Other.
Senator Klobuchar supports a package of policies to combat systemic racial bias in the justice system, including removing sentencing disparities for drug-related sentences, implementing reforms to reduce the overall prison population, ending racial profiling across the justice system, diverting low-level offenders away from jail and prison time, reforming federal prosecutorial practices, ending the school-to-prison pipeline and reforming juvenile justice, and promoting de-escalation techniques to reduce the use of force, as well as ending cash bail, expanding funding for public defenders, and eliminating obstacles to re-entering and participating fully in society.
5. It is critical that the President and Congress continue to act on criminal justice reform to establish national leadership on the issue. However, 86 percent of the national prison population is under the control of states. Most states have already acted to reduce their populations. What is the first step you would take to further incentivize states to reform their justice systems? (Please select one)
a. Pass the Second Chance Reauthorization Act.
b. Provide incentive funding to states that reduce their prison populations, while keeping down crime.
c. Provide funding for states that reform their bail systems.
d. Provide funding for local diversion programs and mental health and substance abuse treatment.
e. Increase funding for local public defense systems.
f. Other.
Senator Klobuchar will work with states and condition funding on restoring discretion from mandatory sentencing for non-violent offenders as well as add safety valves and reform the conditions in our state and local facilities. In addition, she will work with states to reform community supervision and roll back fees, fines and incarceration for technical violations, reform their professional licensing regimes to limit restrictions to convictions relevant to the occupation, end cash bail, promote funding for drug and mental health courts, improve prison conditions, tackle unsustainable workloads for public defenders, increase counselors in schools, and improve data collection on policing techniques and outcomes. As President, Senator Klobuchar will also make a historic investment in our public defenders. She will increase resources for public defenders with the goal of achieving resource parity with our federal prosecutors.
6. What is the first policy you would implement as President to increase successful reentry and reduce recidivism? (Please select one)
a. Increase access to higher education.
b. Increase employment opportunities.
c. Reform probation and parole laws.
d. Expand expungement and record sealing opportunities.
e. Provide greater drug abuse and mental health treatment.
f. Other.
Senator Klobuchar believes we must do more to support returning citizens and ensure that people under probation or supervised release are not unnecessarily pushed into prison. Some states have made significant progress reducing recidivism rates through reforms to probation and parole. In North Carolina, improvements to community supervision and the rolling back of technical violations led to 19.3 percent reduction in recidivism rates according to a 2014 National Reentry Resource Center report.
As President, Senator Klobuchar will work with states across the country to make similar reforms while working to strengthen reentry services and opportunities for returning citizens, including reforming parole and probation nationwide, working with states to end incarceration for technical violations, rolling back fees and fines, ending the suspension of drivers’ licenses for unrelated drug crimes, connecting formerly incarcerated people to housing opportunities, providing economic and housing opportunities and support on-going recovery in communities for returning citizens recovering from addiction, restoring Americans’ right to vote after being released from incarceration, reforming professional licensing restrictions that unfairly discriminate against people with criminal convictions, rolling back limits on federal benefits for people convicted of certain felonies, increasing access to educational opportunities for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, and banning the box for employment and housing.
7. A November 2018 Washington Post investigation found large scale obstruction by the Justice Department in implementing the First Step Act. As President, how will you ensure that the First Step Act is faithfully and fully implemented? (Please select one)
a. Ensure the Bureau of Prisons receives requisite funding to implement and expand the recidivism-reduction programming required by the Act.
b. Hold the Justice Department accountable to abide by the law’s sentencing reforms and allowing the resentencing of eligible individuals.
c. Improve the system in which federal prisoners are assessed for risk and needs before placed into recidivism-reduction programming.
d. Other.
Senator Klobuchar is committed to ensuring that the First Step Act, which she co-sponsored, is fully and faithfully implemented, including by ensuring the Bureau of Prisons receives requisite funding to implement and expand on it, holding the Justice Department accountable to abide by the law’s sentencing reforms and allowing the resentencing of eligible individuals, and improving the system in which federal prisoners are assessed for risk and needs before placed into recidivism-reduction programming.
8. Of the current bipartisan bills pending in Congress, which is your priority to see passed this year? (Please select one)
a. The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, which would delay when federal employers may inquire about criminal history until later in the hiring process.
b. The Clean Slate Act, which would provide automatic record sealing for nonviolent, drug-related offenses for individuals who have remained crime free.
c. The REAL Act, which would remove the ban on incarcerated individuals accessing Pell Grants for higher education.
d. The Smarter Sentencing Act, which would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for drug possession offenses.
e. The Justice Safety Valve Act, which would allow judges to depart from harsh mandatory minimum sentences.
f. Other.
Senator Klobuchar supports urgent action on criminal justice reform, from working to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences to banning the box for employment and housing to reviewing prior drug convictions to removing the ban on incarcerated people accessing Pell Grants for higher education. She also believes it is critical that the Senate passes the For the People Act, which passed the Senate and which, among many reforms, restores the right to vote to formerly incarcerated individuals. Senator Klobuchar has already pledged that the For the People Act — legislation that has thirteen of Senator Klobuchar’s legislative provisions — will be the first bill she sends to Congress as President.
9. What is your view on whether and when voting rights should be restored to individuals with criminal convictions? (Please select one)
a. Voting rights should not be revoked for criminal convictions.
b. Voting rights should be automatically restored for individuals upon release from prison.
c. Voting rights should be automatically restored for individuals convicted of nonviolent or drug offenses upon release from prison.
d. Voting rights should be automatically restored for individuals after they have completed all terms of their sentence, including parole and probation.
e. Voting rights should not be restored for individuals who have had them revoked.
f. Other. __________________________
(10) Please provide one example of a bipartisan effort you have engaged in to advance justice reform. (Please limit to 250 words)
Senator Klobuchar strongly supported and was a cosponsor of the bipartisan First Step Act, which was signed into law in December 2018. This legislation made much-needed reforms to sentencing laws and federal prisons, and had the support of a wide range of groups and experts, including the Justice Action Network. She has also been a leader and strong advocate in the Senate for expanding drug courts.
(11) How would you work to build a bipartisan consensus to move the broadest possible justice reform package across the finish line? (Please limit to 250 words)
A key focus of Senator Klobuchar’s campaign is bringing people with her and not shutting them out. That’s what she’s done her entire career, including in the Senate where she has been the lead Democrat on more than 100 bills signed into law. As President, she will continue to work to build a bipartisan coalition to move major criminal justice reforms forward.