David
-
The
United States has a broken criminal justice system.
We
have over 2 million people in jail and prison, more than any other nation on
earth, and they are disproportionately African-American, Latino, and Native
American. We spend $80 billion a year keeping people behind bars, money which
could be used for education, job creation and affordable housing.
To
make matters worse, the corporations that comprise the prison-industrial
complex make astounding amounts of money for themselves from this broken
system. We have criminalized poverty, we have criminalized entire communities,
and we have allowed corporations to become wealthy from doing so. That is not
what justice is supposed to be about.
Today
we are releasing a criminal justice plan that will reform every aspect of
America’s racist, dysfunctional criminal justice system. That includes ending
mass incarceration, changing the way we police our communities, providing
resources for victims of crime, ending cycles of violence, and more.
What I
want to know is if we have your support for these ideas.
Our
plan is based on the idea that we need a top-to-bottom reform of America’s law
enforcement, judicial and incarceration systems. That includes:
Ending
for-profit greed in our criminal justice system
We
must end cash bail, because no one should be in jail for the "crime"
of being poor. Prison phone and video calls should be free of charge, because
no one should profit from loved ones contacting people who are incarcerated. We
must also expand funding for public defenders to eliminate the idea of
"the best justice money can buy." And we must ban for-profit prisons.
Ending
mass incarceration and excessive sentencing
We
will set a goal to reduce the incarcerated population by half, and we will
abolish the death penalty, three strikes laws, and mandatory minimums. We will
end the war on drugs. And we will ensure a just transition for incarcerated
individuals upon their release.
Ending
the cycle of violence and supporting victims of crime
Victims
of crime need continued access to mental health care, trauma recovery services,
relocation services, and assistance with basic needs, as part of a plan to end
the cycle of violence in communities. We must also eliminate the rape kit
backlog and reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.
Transforming
the way we police communities
We
must end the reliance on police forces to handle mental health emergencies,
homelessness, maintenance violations, and other low-level situations. We will
create an unarmed corp of first responders with the proper training to handle
these cases, leaving police to handle serious crimes. This also means creating
national standards for use of police force that emphasize de-escalation rather
than violence.
Reverse
the criminalization of disability
We
will reverse the criminalization of disability by creating an Office of
Disability in the Department of Justice, expanding voluntary, community-based
mental health services, decriminalizing and ending homelessness, investing in
diversion programs and alternatives to detention for people with disabilities,
and ensuring accountability for police interactions and misconduct involving
people with disabilities.
It is
clear that today in the United States of America, we have a criminal justice
system that is stacked against the poor and people of color, and that it needs
to be reformed from top to bottom.
Thank
you.
In
solidarity,
Bernie
Sanders
