On Criminal Justice
Ban Private Prisons
The prison system must not be designed around the profit motive. Private prisons are notorious for inhumane treatment of the incarcerated, inadequate access to healthy food, clean water and facilities, overcrowded cells, and lack of access to healthcare in the pursuit of ever greater profits. No one expects or wants prisoners to be given the royal treatment, but we should all expect that prisoners be treated with human decency.
However, the problems with private prison companies run even deeper, thanks to a corrupt campaign finance system, where both legislators, as well as elected judges, face campaign pressures from private prison corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group to lobby for longer sentencing, more criminal offenses on the books, mandatory minimum and 'three-strikes' sentencing laws that disallow judges and juries from considering mitigating circumstances when determining what sentences are appropriate for those convicted of criminal activity. This system contributes greatly to tax revenues spent on incarcertaing millions of individuals nationwide, many of whom are convicted of low-level offenses or inability to pay civil fines, are being held in jails prior to trial, or are otherwise of low or no threat to the population.
Bail Reform
We must reform our system of bail to be less discriminatory toward the poor and those with limited cash-on-hand. While a bail of a few hundred dollars may only be a minor inconvenience for people with middle-class incomes and lifestyles, the same bail amount may prove a severe hardship for people with limited incomes or other financial difficulties. Failure to make bail often leads to loss of job and income, failure to pay bills, loss of car and home, and other destructive consequences. We should not have misdemeanor offenses destroying a person's financial life for years because they could not afford their bail. Instead, what we must do is to work to keep as many non-violent offenders out of jail and utilize other options such as pre-trial monitoring or allowing low-level offenders out of jail on their recognizance contingent on good behavior during the pre-trial period.
Further, the bail system is yet another way in which the criminal justice system is biased against minorities, who are more likely to be poor, and who are statistically more likely to face higher bail for the same crimes than whites are. We know that when people are unable to care for their children, keep their jobs or stay in school, and maintain their livelihood, we encourage a descent further into the criminal world and other forms of recidivism. We know that the large numbers of minorities, especially African-American men, currently in prison or jail is contributing to widespread levels of poverty among those populations, and that structural reform to keep as many people, especially minorities, from getting incarcerated is a very important step toward dealing with structural poverty and systemic racism.
End Civil Asset Forfeiture
Due process is of paramount importance to the rule of law. Enshrined in our Constitution is the idea that all citizens have certain legal and human rights, and that the government cannot infringe upon them without first giving the accused a fair trial in a court of law. The concept of civil asset forfeiture turns the entire notion of due process on its head, where police and other law enforcement officers can seize one's possessions and money on the mere suspicion that such money or property may have been used in past criminal activity, or may be used for such purposes in the future. The onus and cost to defend ones possessions in court then falls upon the property owner, many of whom don't have the resources to contest the forfeiture and end up settling before court for a fraction of the seized assets in what is little more than an institutionalized and legal highway robbery scheme effected by law enforcement officers. Even should the owner choose to contest the forfeiture in court, the government is held only to the standard of a 'proponderance of the evidence', a far lower burden of proof than the standard of 'beyond a reasonable doubt' applied in criminal cases.
While law enforcement officers claim that civil forfeiture is a necessary resource in order to combat drug trafficking and terrorism, I disagree with the premise that we should accept erosion of our civil liberties and the rule of law in order to fight against those who would do us harm. Our nation is founded on the principles of liberty, and I do not accept the growing specter of the police and surveillance state being created in the name of 'protecting our liberty'. I believe in the words of Benjamin Franklin - "They that would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
If elected, I would take steps to ban civil asset forfeitures by all law enforcement officers within the state unless the owner has been convicted of a criminal offense, and I would move to prohibit any law enforcement department or officer from receiving any kickbacks or profit-sharing by federal law enforcement asset forfeiture to remove the financial incentives that police and sheriff departments throughout the state have to engage in this practice.
End the Death Penalty
It is time to end this barbaric and inhumane practice and join every other Western democracy in abolishing the death penalty within the state of Arizona, and to work to abolish it nationwide. Not only is the Death Penalty racist in its implementation and prone to needless and unconstitutional suffering, but it is also a colossal waste of money and resources. Between the costs of locking someone up on Death Row and the costs of required appeals and litigation expenses, the Death Penalty makes as little sense fiscally as it does morally, and I call upon the state legislature to ban the Death Penalty for all offenses tried in courts under State jurisdiction.
Police Reform
It is time for us to take steps to ensure that police are seen as partners in our community, instead of occupiers brought in to quell dissent. The majority of law enforcement officers are honest, hard-working individuals who put themselves on the line in their everyday work. However, all too often, the specter of police killing unarmed civilians appears throughout the news. I am aware that there are confrontations that will never be resolved peacefully, but those are few and far between. We should be working to implement and develop de-escalation tactics as much as possible, particularly when police are interacting with individuals who may have mental illness. We should be developing community policing and encouraging police officers to work with the communities and the individuals and leaders of those communities. Many crimes and acts of terrorism can be prevented, but only when individuals feel safe in addressing suspicious activity by notifying police and law enforcement.
It is also important that we make sure that our police forces represent the diversity of the communities that they serve. While no two individuals will ever have the exact same experiences, having a wide variety of viewpoints represented in the police force will help foster a sense of community and trust with our increasingly diverse population, particularly among less-advantaged neighborhoods
Finally, we must take steps against increasing police militarization. Police departments and other law enforcement agencies within the state should not be purchasing tanks and other equipment more reminiscent of downtown Baghdad than downtown Tucson. Fundamentally, the community must feel safe interacting with law enforcement if we are to work to prevent acts of violence, terrorism, and other hate crimes before they manifest themselves. Over and over, after every mass shooting and terrorist attack, there are reports that the suspects in question have been involved in suspicious activities that were either not reported to police or other law enforcement agencies, or where the information was not deemed credible enough to investigate more thoroughly.
Access to Legal Counsel
The Constitution guarantees the right of people accused of civil or criminal violations to have legal counsel present to assist them in meeting the requirements associated with navigating the legal system. The legal system is riddled with procedural hurdles and other logistical issues that require professional assistance to navigate, and the process of discovery and litigation is very time consuming and expensive, something that many lower- and middle-class people are not able to afford. While the courts have guaranteed that individuals without the ability to afford an attorney are entitled to one by court appointment, many public defenders' offices throughout the state and the nation are very underfunded and overworked. It is imperative that we take steps to properly fund public defenders at the state level, as well as work to ensure that the offices of public defenders are properly funded within each county in the state.
In addition, we must reform our legal system for civil trial as well. Under the American Rule used in courts in the state and throughout the country, individuals who file lawsuitsas well as individuals who are defendants are responsible for the costs Such a system gives wealthy individuals and corporations the ability to push for expensive and time-consuming procedural challenges and expensive discovery processes in order to bleed out the other party, particularly when the other party is an individual with limited resources with which to defend themselves. I would like to pass statutory reform that would automatically require the plaintiff to be responsible for the defendant's legal expenses should they be unsuccessful in court. While there are certainly unwanted incentives that may discourage individuals from filing justified lawsuits due to the risk of being responsible for the other party's legal costs, I believe that such reforms are warranted due to the ability of the wealthy and powerful to win legal cases on the basis of having better funded and trained legal staffs on their retainer.
Reintegrating Ex-Cons
Ex-convicts find themselves with numerous challenges in readjusting to life after incarceration. From difficulties finding a job, housing, insurance, and other essential features of readjusting to life outside of prison. Given the immense obstacles our laws place on ex-cons, it is little wonder that rates of recidivism are so much higher in the United States than in other nations. Our prisons are overcrowded due to harsh sentencing laws, and the rancorous environment in our penitentiaries leads to increased level of gang membership as prisoners band together for protection. It is time for us as a society to treat prisoners with basic human dignity and work to provide social services and training to allow ex-cons to readjust to civilian life after they have completed their sentence. This includes counseling and other assistance for breaking addiction and substance abuse, one of the key underlying factors behind a substantial fraction of criminal activity. Of particular note is the way in which African American and Hispanic individuals face compounded challenges in returning to civilian life after their sentence is completed. The model of punishment and discipline has proven largely unsuccessful and a large waste of taxpayer resources, and I believe that it is time to reform this system toward one which emphasizes restitution to the victim and their family, but also rehabilitation.
Victim's Rights
Reform of the police must not come at the expense of harming victims. Unfortunately, particularly for victims of domestic violence or sexual assault, and when the victims are poor or minorities (whether LGBT, ethnic, religious, or racial and/or other minorities), our police system does far too little in far too many cases. We must recognize that victims of domestic violence, assault, or who are mentally ill, may not be fully coherent in their testimony, and we should take steps to require county sheriffs and local police departments to take seriously allegations of crimes, rather than dismiss them because the victime 'deserved it' or 'was asking for it'. It is outrageous and disgusting that large amounts of rape kits go untested and left in labs and testing facilities because of a lack of funds to test and verify them, and it is equally unacceptable that our hospitals and other health facilities are not taking steps to make sure that people who are victimized in physical health as well as in psychological. People who are victims of crimes have the right to have their police reports taken seriously, to the maximum extent possible while respecting due process and the rights of the accused.