Criminal Justice

Reform the Police

  • Assign police to only those duties and incidents that require an armed law enforcement officer. 
  • Hire and deploy dedicated, unarmed enforcement officers to address such things as traffic safety, petty theft, and other non-violent crimes 
  • Hire and deploy social workers to respond to non-violent family, homeless, and drug abuse cases
  • Define clearly, in writing, exactly when each type of resource should be deployed.
  • Improve screening and training of armed police. Establish uniform minimum standards for hiring. Establish a national HR database of police (and eventually, all civil employees) that includes evaluations, infractions and alerts, psychological profiles, and other relevant data.

Eliminate Cash Bail

Cash bail unfairly penalizes low-income people (who are disproportionately targeted for arrest already) who can’t afford bail and can’t afford not to work while awaiting trial. 

  • Replace with standards for incarceration vs. freedom prior to trial

Reform the Penal System

  • Eliminate the death penalty. There are too many cases of false conviction. Better to jail and release a guilty person than to kill an innocent one.
  • Expunge the records of persons convicted of offenses no longer considered crimes (e.g. marijuana possession), and arrest records of persons acquitted of crimes.
  • Eliminate private prisons, and hire prison workers as government employees
  • Eliminate the exploitation of prison labor
    • Require payment of minimum wages that are held in escrow for release
    • Transfer credit and certification for skills and training acquired during incarceratio