Issue Position: Criminal Justice Reform

Issue Position

Our nation jails more of its people than virtually any other in the world. Evidence confirms that mass incarceration emerged as a byproduct of the Jim Crow laws of racial segregation. Women are now the largest growing prison population.

Knowing all of this, the most vulnerable among us--the poor, people of color, young people, women--are still most at risk of being arrested and entering our criminal justice system.

We can do better.

As Chair of the Select Committee on Incarcerated Women and as a member on the Assembly Committees on:

1. Public Safety, overseeing the California Penal Code;
2. Community and Law Enforcement Relations and Responsibilities; and
3. Ending the School to Prison Pipeline.

I am fighting for change.

We need to ensure due process and equal treatment, starting even before someone enters the system. We must open the door for real conversations about how our law enforcement is overworked and over-traumatized, and how they can rebuild the trust of the communities they are tasked to protect.

Now is the time to create ways to train and sustain impartiality, evolve the practices of our law enforcement, judges and prosecutors, and replace the "us versus them" paradigm with a "we" mindset.

I have been busy on this issue. I have fought for:

Prohibiting 14- and 15-year-olds from being tried as adults and sent to adult prison;
Eliminating the discriminatory cash bail system for those awaiting trial on misdemeanors;
Allowing for public access to peace officers' personnel records; and
the California Act to Save Lives (AB 392), a common-sense bill mandating that police officers should only use deadly force when necessary.
I aim to permanently close private prisons.

I've challenged the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to adhere to standards established by the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) and improve its role in ensuring fair and thorough investigations of CDCR staff misconduct.

I've confronted CDCR on its decision to decline participation in a first-of-its-kind study (Johns Hopkins University, March 2019) about incarcerated women who are pregnant and what happens to their babies.

I coauthored ACA 6, which grants parolees the right to vote, and AB 2448, which guarantees youth in foster care and juvenile facilities reasonable access to computer technology and the internet.

I have asked the State Auditor Department to audit the Sheriff's Departments of Los Angeles, Fresno, and Alameda counties. These audits will reveal how realignment funds have been spent in each of these counties and provide the first step in demanding accountability and transparency within those departments.

I will spend the next two years reviewing the entire penal code as a member of the Penal Code Revision Committee.

I have authored a bill to limit time on probation and to pilot a community policing program.

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