Full 2016 Platform

46^th DRAFT LAW & THE JUSTICE SYSTEM

The rule of law is a prerequisite for a democratic civil society. A good government provides for the safety and security of the general public with care, fairness and respect for the individual.

We support:

1. Reasonable security measures to protect the public without sacrifice of civil liberties
2. Vigorous affirmative action to ensure that police departments are as diverse as the communities they serve
3. Mandatory training of all law enforcement officers on de-escalation, no-harm restraint and how to communicate with people with mental illness and other disabilities
4. Greater emphasis on rehabilitative sentencing and programs in prison
5. Repealing or mitigating the "Three Strikes" law
6. Restorative Justice, especially for youth, including establishing Dependency Courts with specific competencies and resources to restore families when in the children’s interests
7. Changing the treatment of juveniles under the age of 21 to reflect current science on brain development
8. Ending mandatory and indeterminate sentencing and restoring a parole system
9. Accountability in law enforcement, with effective civilian review
10. Mandatory body cameras for police
11. Ending the War on Drugs: therefore, state and federal drug policy should include:
    1. Emphasis on prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation, and drug education that reflects established scientific knowledge.
    2. More drug courts and a lower priority for minor drug offenses
    3. Prohibiting asset forfeiture unless a defendant is convicted of a crime
12. Improved gun-safety laws including:
    1. A national comprehensive background check before each gun sale, including at gun shows
    2. Requiring safe gun storage in homes and vehicles
    3. Prohibiting automatic weapons, bump stocks and oversized ammunition magazines
    4. Banning sales of automatic assault rifles
    5. Common-sense gun bans in public places
13. Restoring FBI funding to investigate white-collar crime
14. The right of foreign nationals to have access to consular officials if accused of a crime
15. State and local efforts to train law enforcement to see underage sex workers as victims and to prosecute underage sex trafficking
16. 100% timely DNA testing to free the innocent and convict the guilty
17. Restoring habeas corpus for citizens and noncitizens, completely and without compromise
18. Bail reforms, including no bail for those with community ties, affordable bail and no-fee public bonds for indigent persons
19. Full transparency of key criminal justice system processes: police stops and arrests, jury profiles, police and prosecutorial discretion, plea bargaining and sentencing
20. The appointment of only qualified judges to the Federal Courts
21. Post-secondary accredited courses in prisons

We oppose:

1. Capital punishment
2. Profiling people based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability or perceived country of origin
3. Prison overcrowding
4. Extended solitary confinement
5. Privatizing prisons and ICE detention centers
6. Building more prisons
7. The militarization of police
8. Suspending driver’s licenses for offenses unrelated to driving