Posts tagged Vox
Elizabeth Warren’s criminal justice reform plan, explained

“t includes many of the policies that have become mainstays in Democratic criminal justice reform plans. She targets long prison sentences, mandatory minimums, cash bail, and drug policies focused on incarceration over addiction treatment. She argues more broadly against criminalizing homelessness, poverty, and mental health problems. She also calls for repealing the 1994 crime law, which has become a bogeyman for mass incarceration among progressives (in large part because Democrats, particularly Biden, supported it when it passed).“

Vox

August 20, 2019

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2020 ElectionPhillip ReevesVox, Elizabeth WarrenComment
Bernie Sanders’s criminal justice reform plan, explained

“Sanders’s plan is aiming for sweeping change: It’s an attempt to address the long list of complaints and criticisms raised against America’s criminal justice system for decades. Sanders also sets out a pretty ambitious goal “of cutting the incarcerated population in half.” The Sanders campaign said this is not just for the federal level, but the state level too.“

Vox

August 19, 2019

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2020 ElectionPhillip ReevesVox, Bernie SandersComment
Amy Klobuchar has a plan to reverse the war on drugs — and doesn’t need Congress to do it

“Klobuchar’s plan would tap into one of the president’s few nearly absolute powers: the ability to grant pardons and commutations to any federal prison inmate. This is the power that President Donald Trump used last year when, after meeting with Kim Kardashian West, he commuted the life sentence of Alice Johnson, a great-grandmother in prison for drug trafficking. It’s the power that Trump has reportedly considered for former staff caught in the Russia investigation. And now Klobuchar wants to use that power, much as President Barack Obama did toward the end of his term, to roll back mass incarceration and the war on drugs.“

Vox

April 30, 2019

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2020 ElectionPhillip ReevesVox, Amy KlobucharComment
The case for capping all prison sentences at 20 years

“The idea for a cap is straightforward: No one could be sentenced for any number of charges — not attempted robbery, rape, or murder — for more than 20 years. There should be a limited exception, like there is in Norway, that lets courts extend prison sentences indefinitely for an additional five years at a time, but only if there’s proof that a person still poses a public safety threat.“

Vox

February 12, 2019

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Mass Incarceration, OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesVox, Marc MauerComment
The First Step Act, explained

“The First Step Act, which passed with overwhelming support from Republicans and Democrats, takes modest steps to alter the federal criminal justice system and ease very punitive prison sentences at the federal level. It affects only the federal system — which, with about 181,000 imprisoned people, holds a small but significant fraction of the US jail and prison population of 2.1 million. “

Vox

February 5, 2019

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SenateAnthony BradleyVox, First Step ActComment
Video: police allegedly left a “bait truck” filled with Nike shoes in a black Chicago neighborhood

"These items, be they unattended vehicles or packages, are intended to be stolen. Police typically leave them in high-crime neighborhoods in spots where thieves are most likely to take them. A parked bait car, for instance, would be left in an area where car theft is a problem. Bait devices are rigged with surveillance equipment and tracking devices so that authorities, usually waiting nearby, can quickly catch offenders who make off with them."

Vox

August 7, 2018

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Social Issues, Mass IncarcerationAnthony BradleyVox, Chicago