Issue Position: Criminal Justice Reform

Issue Position

*End the failed war on drugs. Replace drug prohibition with harm reduction. Legalize marijuana/hemp. Treat substance abuse as a health problem, not a criminal offense.

*Release nonviolent drug offenders from prison, removing such offenses from their records, and provide them with both pre- and post-release support.

*End police brutality, mass incarceration and institutional racism within our justice system. Support the Black Lives Matter Movement.

*Demilitarize police. End use of SWAT teams and no-knock raids for drugs and serving papers.

*Repair our communities rather than dump resources into the prison-industrial complex.

*Establish police review boards so that communities control their police, and not the other way around. Appoint dedicated investigators to investigate every death or serious injury at the hands of police.

*Enact laws to require independent outside legal representatives to investigate and prosecute any killing or brutality by the police rather than prosecutors involved in the local criminal justice system.

*Eliminate harsh mandatory sentencing requirements which often result in unjustified sentences.

*Limit Use of Force: replace shoot-to-kill as the only response tactic; train officers in conflict resolution; deeply review personnel records of transferring officers and screen for excessive force complaints.

*Police Training: Conduct periodic training on de-escalating mental health crises, restorative justice and conflict resolution, mental health self-checks and privilege and bias self-checks.

*Demilitarize the police: End training from Israeli Defense Forces on occupation-style policing; End 1033-style programs that transfer military equipment to civilian law enforcement and incentivize police departments to return military-grade weapons to federal government. End use of SWAT teams and no-knock raids for drug offenses and serving papers.

*Community Representation: Institute elected community oversight boards with subpoena and indictment powers.

*Body Cams/Film the Police: End the prosecution and retaliation of citizen filming of police incidents, and withdraw federal funding from police departments with needlessly high rates of camera shutoff or disrepair.

*Fair Police Contracts: Keep officers' disciplinary history accessible to police departments and the public.

*Eliminate delays in interrogating police officers involved with civilian shootings. End paid leave or desk-duty for police officers being actively investigated for a civilian shooting or deadly force.

*End For-Profit Policing: Eliminate department quotas for tickets or arrests. Eliminate excessive fines on low-income civilians and property seizure, except in cases of conviction where the state establishes clearly that property is subject to forfeiture.

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