Mayor Pete Buttigeig's new "Douglass Plan" hit lots of criminal justice reform high points

With still so many candidates still jockeying for position, I am still not paying all that much attention to statements coming from all the contenders for the 2020 Democratic nomination for President.  But a big, bold plan set out by one candidate this a week caught my eye.

As Vox details in this piece, this week Mayor Pete Buttigieg introduced this notable new platform titled "The Douglass Plan: A Comprehensive Investment in the Empowerment of Black America."  Here is the not-so-modest introduction from the website about the plan's name and ambition: "Inspired by American hero Frederick Douglass and comparable in scale to the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II, the Douglass Plan dismantles old systems and structures that inhibit prosperity and builds new ones that will unlock the collective potential of Black America."

The Douglass Plan quite rightly gives considerable attention to "Criminal Justice Reform," with nearly a quarter of this 18-page document focused on this topic.  Here are some of the most notable headings and stressed statements from this part of the report:

[We will] ensure more people are free by significantly reducing the number of people incarcerated in the United States at both the federal and state level by 50%....

We will double funding for federal grants for states that commit to criminal justice reform, and prioritize funding for programs aimed at pretrial reforms, decarceration, and expansion of alternative to incarceration (ATI) programs....

We will, on the federal level, eliminate incarceration for drug possession, reduce sentences for other drug offenses and apply these reductions retroactively, legalize marijuana and expunge past convictions....

We will eliminate mandatory minimums....

We will commute the sentences of people who are incarcerated in the federal system beyond what justice warrants by establishing an independent clemency commission that sits outside the Department of Justice....

We will fight the profit motive in the criminal justice system, including by abolishing private federal prisons....

We will reduce the criminalization of poverty and its link to incarceration....

We will appoint an Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, and U.S. Sentencing Commissioners who are committed to the fundamental transformation of the criminal justice system. We will ensure that the federal bench includes more women and people of color.  We will also prioritize deepening the experience of the bench by appointing former public defenders and civil rights attorneys who share a commitment to the protection and expansion of civil rights and civil liberties....

We will support a constitutional amendment to abolish the death penalty....

We will reduce the over-reliance on solitary confinement and abolish its prolonged use, bringing the United States in line with international human rights standards, which view the use of solitary confinement in excess of 15 days as per se torture.

We will ensure people who are incarcerated have access to education, health care, and rehabilitation....

[We will] protect the freedom for people with criminal convictions to fully integrate into society by providing the tools necessary for success, while reducing government intrusion in people’s lives.

We will significantly reduce the use of supervised release on the federal level by limiting it to two years, cutting burdensome requirements and technical constraints, and making it harder to be sent back to prison for small violations of the terms of release.

I have cut out a lot of supportive text as well as some additional proposals, and so I highly recommend the document in full for anyone and everyone eager to see what a bold criminal justice reform platform looks like.  This CNN piece from last week reported that former VP Joe Biden was developing a reform plan that is to be "research-based and will be among the most progressive of all the 2020 candidates."  I will be quite impress if Biden comes up with something even more progressive than what Mayor Pete has now put forward.