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February 19, 2020

Former NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg, on eve of his first Prez debate, releases full criminal justice reform plan

In this post from December, I noted this page on the campaign website of Mike Bloomberg that reported on "three criminal justice reform policy proposals" then announced by the then-new Democratic presidential candidate.  Unsurprisingly, that partial plan has not deflected criticisms of Bloomberg's record and past comments on criminal justice matters.  And, also unsurprisingly, Bloomberg has now announced more of a criminal justice platform via this piece headlined "Mike Bloomberg Expands Criminal Justice Reform Plan With Bold Initiatives to End Era of Mass Incarceration."  Here are excerpts (with emphasis and links in the original):

Commits $22.5 billion to reduce prison population by 50% by 2030, will slash youth incarceration by half in four years, and expands funding for public defenders

Invests $1 billion in programs to support young men of color and creates justice reclamation centers at historically black colleges and universities

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg today released his comprehensive plan to restructure our country’s criminal justice system. On December 3, 2019, Mike released three key pillars of his criminal justice reform policy as the first policy announcement of his campaign.  In the 12 weeks since, the campaign and Mike have met with leaders, advocates, and activists to receive input and feedback, which culminates in today’s release of Mike’s full criminal justice reform platform. As president, Mike will end the era of mass incarceration by heavily investing federal resources to halve the prison population within the next decade, increase funding for public defenders, and confront deep-seated racial and economic inequities that fall largely on Black, Latino, and other underserved communities.

Mike’s plan promises to protect people at every touchpoint in the justice system, from innovative pre-trial efforts that stop the reliance on incarceration to addressing unjust and excessive sentencing in the courtroom, and from re-imagining our prisons as a place for rehabilitation to a new work program and robust services for people returning to their communities. Mike will also commit $22.5 billion over 10 years for reform at the state and local level, with a new Justice Reform Office at the Department of Justice to fund the most-needed reforms on a state-by-state basis....

Mike’s Plan to Reform America’s Criminal Justice System

The United States has a mass incarceration problem. The U.S. has 5% of the world’s people, yet confines nearly a quarter of the world’s prison population. America’s criminal justice system has dramatic racial disparities: Latino adults are three times more likely to be incarcerated than White adults, and Black Americans make up 13% of the U.S. population but are 40% of all incarcerated people. The system unfairly punishes people for their poverty, often further entrenching them in a vicious cycle of poverty and incarceration.

In Jackson, Mississippi last December, Mike pledged to prioritize juvenile justice, fund local violence interrupter programs, reform the bail system, and bring new re-entry and career-training programming to prisons. Mike’s full plan, announced today, will:

  • Protect the public and rebuild community trust: Mike will invest in innovative community-led partnerships, focused deterrence programs and smart and just policing. Mike will sign a bill raising the standard for federal officers’ use of force, ensuring deadly force is used only when necessary to prevent serious injury or death — and will pressure states to enact similar statutes. He will require de-escalation and bias training, body-worn cameras and early intervention for police who present warning signs. He will promote independent police oversight boards, re-invigorate civil rights investigations to keep police accountable and make it a national priority to expand and analyze data on police use of force.
  • Cut incarceration rates and re-imagine prison as a place for rehabilitation from day one: Mike will invest $22.5 billion to launch a Department of Justice reform hub to evaluate and fund state-level criminal justice reform efforts, set a goal to reduce incarceration by 50% by 2030 and cut crime across the U.S., and spread the use of alternatives to prison pioneered in New York City. Additionally, he will increase funding to improve health and safety in federal, state and local prisons, along with education and job training.
  • Address injustice in the legal system: Mike will boost funding for public defense, end cash bail, court fines and punitive fees and roll back punitive sentencing practices. Public defense is underfunded in the states, leading to longer sentences and wrongful convictions. Mike will fund $2.5 billion over ten years for public defense – requiring grantees to have pay parity for defenders and prosecutors, as well as workload limits that ensure fair representation. He will also end federal cash bail, end court fines and punitive fees and propose new federal sentencing structure to reverse an overly punitive legacy. Mike’s plan will decriminalize possession and use of marijuana nationwide, commute any existing sentences and expunge any records.
  • Help formerly incarcerated people re-enter society: Mike will start a federal work program for the formerly incarcerated, including providing employers with a multi-year tax incentive and expanding “ban the box initiatives.” He will bolster federal funding for re-entry services and also expand social services for children whose parents are incarcerated.
  • Increase support and services for victims of domestic violence, gun violence, hate crimes and human trafficking: Mike will increase funding to build family justice centers, which provide holistic services for survivors of domestic violence—and make it easier for victims to seek justice. He will also re-authorize the Violence Against Women Act, with necessary improvements; eliminate the national rape kit backlog; start a national helpline for gun violence and make hate crimes and human trafficking a top federal priority.
  • Invest in young men of color: Mike’s plan will invest $100 million annually to revive and sustain the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative as a federal program. Using the Neighborhood Equity and Opportunity Office (NEO), proposed in the Greenwood Initiative, Mike will launch a permanent funding stream to invest in young men of color. Building on the Young Men’s Initiative that Mike created as mayor, this national program will focus on creating opportunity while preventing entry into the criminal justice system. He will also establish a National Trauma-Informed Care Task Force to study the effects of early trauma – and to recommend practices to formalize the delivery of quality care across federal agencies that touch low-income families and justice-involved people.
  • Create restorative justice centers at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs): Mike’s plan also includes funding justice reclamation centers at HBCUs across the country. Mike will set up a network of justice reclamation as hubs of history and public education that will chronicle an era, create the conditions for healing based on the best social science and devise constructive strategies for policing, remediation and community involvement. These centers will be a collaborative place to gather existing expertise and develop best new solutions — with a special focus on restorative justice. The centers will partner with local My Brother’s Keeper projects, helping give communities the tools to drive meaningful criminal justice reform.

Given the recent buzz around the Roger Stone sentencing and Prez Trump's latest clemencies, as well as Bloomberg's first appearance on the Democratic debate stage and his "stop and frisk" record, I am thinking tonight's debate in Nevada is likely to include some (perhaps even a lot) of criminal justice issues.  Notably, Nevada is the first state to vote this season that has fully legalized marijuana, so that too could perhaps be a topic for tonight discussion.

Prior related post:

February 19, 2020 at 10:33 AM | Permalink

Comments

I hope to continue to post this on every SLP presidential candidate proposal post from here on out—maybe, just maybe, it can get the conversation going:

Repeal AEDPA, and mandate de novo review of all habeas claims that feature the state on bottom in federal court. Remove AEDPA's time limits and bans on second petitions, and bans on claims that could have been raised in an earlier appeal, and require federal courts to rule on any non-frivolous petitions. Non-capital prisoners have no incentive to drag things out, and no one should be condemned to years in prison because a state court incorrectly ruled on a case in the absence of specifically controlling SCOTUS authority.
Same rules should apply to capital prisoners, with the caveat that a stay of execution for a claim that would have been barred as successive or untimely under AEDPA won't issue unless the judge feels that there is a close to 50% chance that the claim will succeed.

Posted by: Jacob Berlove | Feb 19, 2020 1:51:30 PM

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