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. __________________________
Vice President Joe Biden
b. A bill to provide financial incentives to states that reduce their prison populations.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
b. A bill to provide financial incentives to states that reduce their prison populations.
Among the several core priorities you name here—all of which I support—this option may have the most far-reaching impact, since 90% of the criminal justice system is controlled by state and local governments.
Senator Bernie Sanders
j. Other.
As President, Bernie will work with Congress to enact comprehensive criminal justice reform legislation to:
● End For-Profit Greed in Our Criminal Justice System, top to bottom, by banning for-profit prisons and detention centers, ending cash bail, making prison and jail communications such as phone calls and video chats free of charge, and making re-entry, diversion and treatment programs fee-free, including GPS monitoring.
● Ensure the Criminal Justice System is Not the “Best Justice Money Can Buy” by ending the cruel and unconstitutional crisis of public defense by vastly increasing funding for public defenders and creating a federal formula to ensure populations have a minimum number of public defenders to meet their needs, and working with states to set a minimum starting salary for public defenders.
● Transform the Way We Police Communities by ending the reliance on police forces to handle mental health emergencies, homelessness, maintenance violations, and other low-level situations. We will create an unarmed corp of first responders with the proper training to handle these cases, leaving police to handle serious crimes.
● Hold Police Officers Accountable by limiting the use of qualified immunity for police officers, establishing a national use of force standard that emphasizes de-escalation, conducting an Attorney General’s investigation for all deaths involving police or in custody, establishing civilian oversight of police departments, and create federal registries for police use of deadly force and misconduct.
● End Mass Incarceration by abolishing the death penalty, three strikes laws, and mandatory minimum sentences, as well as expanding the use of alternatives to detention, compassionate release, and the executive clemency process.
● Commit to the recommendations of the ACLU by working to cut the national prison population in half.
● Ban the Use of Facial Recognition Software for Policing and put a moratorium on algorithmic sentencing and risk assessment tools until a thorough audit is completed to ensure a lack of bias.
● End the War on Drugs by legalizing marijuna and expunging past convictions, reversing the criminalization of addiction, and working with states to fund and operate overdose prevention programs, needle exchanges, and safe injection sites.
● Reform Our Decrepit Prison System and Guarantee a “Prisoners Bill of Rights,” including guaranteed access to educational and vocational training, a living wage for prison labor, access to free medical care, protection from sexual abuse and harassment, access to families, and the right to vote while incarcerated. Bernie will also ban solitary confinement.
● Ensure a Just Transition for Incarcerated Individuals Upon Their Release, including making expungement broadly available, creating a federal reentry agency, guaranteeing affordable housing, and increasing funding for re-entry programs.
● Treat Children Who Interact with the Justice System as Children by raising the age to charge children in adult court to 18, ending mandatory minimum sentences and life without parole sentences for youth, decriminalizing truancy, and investing in youth diversion programs and alternatives to the court and prison system.
● End and Preventing Cycles of Violence by focusing law enforcement resources on solving homicides and other seriouscrimes, funding Cure Violence programs and similar proven violence interruption models, and ending the national rape kit backlog.
● Support the Victims and Survivors of Crimes by providing sustained resources to survivors and their families, including mental health care, trauma recovery services, relocation services, and assistance with basic needs.
● Invest in Sex Trafficking Research and Prevention Programs, especially for vulnerable populations such as foster children, Native American women, and trans women.
● Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, provide housing assistance and paid leave for victims of sexual assault, and expand non-police intervations for domestic violence.
● Reverse the Criminalization of Disability by creating an Office of Disability in the Department of Justice, expanding voluntary, community-based mental health services, decriminalizing and ending homelessness, investing in diversion programs and alternatives to detention, and ensuring accountability for police interactions and misconduct involving people with disabilities.
● Invest in Our Communities, especially those that have been ravaged by over-policing and the War on Drugs. This includes investing revenue from legal marijuana in communities affected by the War on Drugs, establishing a $10 billion grant program for entrepreneurs of color, replacing lead pipes and cleaning up contaminated drinking water, and investing in public transportation and infrastructure that makes communities more integrated.
Senator Elizabeth Warren
a. A bill to remove or reduce mandatory minimum sentences.
c A bill to reform the probation system or reinstate parole in the federal system.
f. A bill to allow judges more flexibility in sentencing defendants to alternatives to prison.
i. A bill to increase opportunities for early release or remove barriers to successful reentry.
Meaningful sentencing reform targets three key pressure points in our criminal justice system. It would allow us to lower the number of people incarcerated in the first place, lower the length of incarceration, and ensure that people released from incarceration have the support they need to prevent recidivism. A president could accomplish this through legislation while still using executive authority to achieve other criminal justice reform objectives -- including incentivizing states to reduce their prison populations, ending contracts with private prisons, and supporting police or prosecutorial reform -- all on her own.