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. __________________________
Vice President Joe Biden
b. Provide incentive funding to states that reduce their prison populations, while keeping down crime.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
b. Provide incentive funding to states that reduce their prison populations, while keeping down crime.
I support all of the above steps, and intend to take all of them. I would create a new reform hub at the Department of Justice and fund $22.5 bilion over 10 years for that new office to power reform in the states. This would include re-entry services funding like the funding in the Second Chance Reauthorization Act, funding for states to replace cash bail with release programs, diversion efforts, and $2.5 billion over 10 years for public defenders. The overall goal—and the one I’ve highlighted here—is funding to the states (including withholding of existing funding) to incentivize reducing their prison populations by half.
Senator Bernie Sanders
f. Other.
As President, Bernie will work with states to enact comprehensive criminal justice reform at all levels to cut the national prison population in half and end mass incarceration by abolishing three strikes laws and mandatory minimum sentences, as well as expanding the use of alternatives to detention, reinstate a federal parole system and ending truth-in-sentencing. Bernie will also ensure people serving long sentences
will undergo a “second look” process to make sure their sentence is still appropriate. He will make sure that Americans live in a country where they are treated fairly by law enforcement and the justice system, regardless of where they live. That’s why, when we are in the White House, we will:
● Ban the practice of any law enforcement agency benefiting from civil asset forfeiture. Limit or eliminate federal criminal justice funding for any state or locality that does not comply.
● Reverse the Trump administration’s guidance on the use of death penalty drugs with the goal of ending the death penalty at the state level.
● Authorize the Department of Justice to take legal action against jurisdictions that are not meeting their Sixth Amendment obligations.
● Create a federal formula to ensure populations have a minimumnumber of public defenders to meet their needs, and work with states to set a minimum starting salary for public defenders.
● Revitalize the executive clemency process by creating an independent clemency board removed from the Department of Justice and placed in White House.
● Provide grants to states to reduce their pretrial detention populations, which are particularly high at the county level, and require states to report on outcomes as a condition of renewing their funding.
● Withhold funding from states that continue the use of cash bail systems.
● Provide grants for states and cities to establish civilian oversight agencies with enforceable accountability mechanisms.
● Provide funding to states and municipalities to create civilian corps of unarmed first responders, such as social workers, EMTs, and trained mental health professionals, who can handle order maintenance violations, mental health emergencies, and low-level conflicts outside the criminal justice system, freeing police officers to concentrate on the most serious crimes.
● Work with states to fund and operate overdose prevention programs, needle exchanges, and safe injection sites.
● Use the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision to challenge states that have failed to adequately support the voluntary, community-based mental health services that can divert people with mental illness from ending up in the criminal justice system.
● Invest in communities by ending the exploitative practices of payday lenders and ensure all Americans have access to basic financial services through the Post Office, and capping interest rates on consumer loans and credit cards at 15 percent across all financial institutions. States will be empowered to cap rates even lower than 15 percent.
Senator Elizabeth Warren
b. Provide incentive funding to states that reduce their prison populations, while keeping down crime.
d. Provide funding for local diversion programs and mental health and substance abuse treatment.
To achieve real criminal justice reform on a national scale, we must move the decisions of states and local governments as well. I will work with state and local governments and incentivize adoption of new federal standards through the grant making process, including by reprioritizing state and local grant making toward a restorative approach to justice and expanding grant funding for criminal justice reform. It’s not enough merely to reform our sentencing guidelines or improve police-community relations. We need to rethink our approach to public safety, transitioning away from a punitive system and investing in evidence-based approaches that address the underlying drivers of incarceration. That means investing in diversion programs for youth offenders, co-responder initiatives that connect law enforcement to mental health care providers and experts, and treatment rather than incarceration for substance abuse disorders.