Safety, Fairness, and Community-Centered Justice

Our justice system should protect communities, rehabilitate individuals, and ensure fairness for all, not exacerbate inequities or criminalize poverty. In Congress, I will champion reforms that support youth, reduce mass incarceration, and create a more equitable, humane system for everyone.

Juvenile Justice Reform

Children deserve guidance and support, not a life marked by incarceration. I will:

• Support the Juvenile Justice Reform Act, including amendments to raise the age of adult prosecution to 18 and end federal juvenile life without parole sentences.

• Guarantee legal representation for migrant and unaccompanied children, ensuring fairness in immigration proceedings similar to protections in criminal court.
  
  

Decriminalizing Poverty

Our justice system should not punish people for being poor. I will:

• End the cash bail system, supporting the No Money Bail Act of 2017, which encourages alternatives that ensure court appearances without punishing low-income defendants.

• Limit exploitative fees, including excessive charges for inmate phone services, so families are not financially burdened by incarceration.

• Reframe substance use as a public health issue, expanding access to drug courts, treatment, and support rather than incarceration.

• Legalize and deschedule marijuana, commuting or expunging federal convictions related to marijuana possession, while reducing incarceration and allowing states to regulate responsibly.
  
  

Prison Reform

Prisons should focus on rehabilitation, fairness, and restoring dignity. I will:

• Sponsor sentencing reform, tackling policies that perpetuate racial inequities, and reducing overly harsh sentences.

• Ban private prison contracts at the federal and state levels, removing profit incentives from incarceration.

• Reinstate parole and strengthen early release programs, expand good time credit, and incentivize recidivism reduction programs.

• Abolish federal capital punishment, eliminating a morally and racially inequitable system.

• Support compassionate release, especially for elderly and medically vulnerable inmates.
  

Law Enforcement Reform

Public safety requires accountability and trust. I will:

• Establish a US Commission on Criminal Justice, conducting a national review and issuing recommendations for systemic reform.

• Create a federally-mandated database of police shootings, ensuring accurate reporting to inform policy and public awareness.

• Support independent investigations of officer-involved fatalities and in-custody deaths, including sexual assault cases.

• Expand community policing and mental health response teams, integrating social workers and crisis counselors into law enforcement.

Justice should not end at the prison gate. I will:

• Remove barriers for formerly incarcerated individuals, restoring access to public housing, SNAP, employment, professional licenses, voting, and education.

• Stop census gerrymandering, ensuring incarcerated individuals are counted at their home address, not in prison locations.
  
  

Justice-Involved Women

Women in the justice system face unique challenges that require gender-responsive solutions. I will:

• Promote trauma-informed care, including family visitation, reproductive and behavioral health, and pretrial services.

• Support policies that maximize rehabilitation, reunification, and successful reentry, addressing the systemic inequities faced by incarcerated women.

• Improve school discipline policies, guiding the Department of Education to support culturally competent, gender-informed approaches that prevent school-to-prison pipelines.