Issue Position: Criminal Justice Reform, End Private Prisons

Issue Position

It is time to reform our criminal justice system to be safer for everyone. Alexandria believes in ending mass incarceration and the war on drugs, and closing the school-to-prison pipeline.

Alexandria supports the federal legalization of marijuana, ending for-profit prisons/detention centers, releasing individuals sentenced for nonviolent drug offenses, ending cash bail, and automatic, independent investigations in instances where individuals are killed in exchanges with law enforcement.

We must also fully fund the offices of public defenders, decriminalize poverty, end arbitration clauses that shield corporate abuses of everyday Americans, and provide comprehensive mental health care to both incarcerated communities and law enforcement.

Mass incarceration is the latest iteration of a long line of policies (Jim Crow, redlining, etc) rooted in the marginalization of African Americans and people of color. Comprehensive criminal justice reform is part of the work that must be done to heal our past and pursue racial justice in the United States.

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