Warren would end all contracts that the Bureau of Prisons, ICE, and the U.S. Marshals have with private detention providers.
Warren would grant federal public safety funding to states and localities only if they follow the private prisons and detention facilities ban.
Warren pledges to decriminalize mental health crises through Medicare for All and increased access to mental health care services, funding co-responder initiatives that connect law enforcement to mental health care providers and experts, and piloting evidence-based crisis response efforts for people with mental illness.
Warren would Repeal the 1994 Crime Bill.
Warren would eliminate the crack and cocaine sentencing disparity.
Warren pledges to stop criminalizing homelessness, referencing laws that ban behaviors associated with homelessness like sleeping in public or living in vehicles.
Warren would reverse the Trump administration’s policy expanding pre-trial civil forfeiture at the federal level, and would restrict the use of civil forfeiture overall.
Warren would cap criminal debt collection at a percentage of income for low-income individuals, and supports states capping the percentage of municipal revenues derived from the justice system.
Warren would invest in mental and emotional health programs like peer intervention and early warning programs for law enforcement.
Warren would reverse the Jeff Sessions guidance limiting the use of consent decree investigations to investigate police departments.
Warren aims to incentivize states to empower their attorneys general to conduct oversight of police behavior.
Warren would establish federal standards for the use of force for federal law enforcement.
Warren supports limiting qualified immunity for law enforcement officials who are found to have violated the Constitution, and allowing victims to sue police departments directly for negligently hiring officers despite prior misconduct.
Warren would pass legislation to prohibit racial profiling at all levels of law enforcement.
Warren would expand federal funding for body cameras.
Warren would expand federal funding for public defenders.
Warren would provide funding for language and cultural competency training for public defenders.
Warren would establish an advisory board of people who have experienced violence and formerly incarcerated individuals.
Warren would repeal overly restrictive habeas corpus rules in order to make the appeals process easier for individuals who were wrongfully imprisoned.
Warren pledges to break the school-to-prison pipeline.
Warren promises to invest in evidence-based interruption programs, which are aimed at preventing violence and diverting criminal behavior.
Warren would invest in diversion programs for substance abuse disorder.
Warren would legalize marijuana and expunge previous convictions.
Warren would expand options that divert people with substance use disorder from incarceration into programs that provide “real” treatment.
Warren would end cash bail.
Warren would restrict fines and fees levied for individuals before adjudication.
Warren would end the practice of charging fees to incarcerated people for necessary services like phone calls, bank transfers, and health care. Warren would also prevent private companies from profiting off of individuals for incarceration and supervision, including through fees for re-entry, supervision, and probation.
Warren would develop a government database and data collection process in the Justice Department to collect law enforcement data related to fatal police shootings, ethics issues, misconduct complaints, use of force incidents, etc.
Warren would triple funding for the Office of Civil Rights to allow for increased investigations of police departments with the highest rates of police violence and whenever there is a death in custody.
Warren will implement a grant program to fund communities that establish an independent civilian oversight mechanism for their police departments.
Warren would provide incentives for cities and states to increase and improve law enforcement training in areas like implicit bias, discrimination, cultural competency, and engaging with individuals with disabilities.
Warren would end stop-and-frisk by instructing the Justice Department to withhold federal funding from law enforcement agencies that continue to employ it and similar practices.
Warren would eliminate the transfer of military-grade weapons and lethal equipment to local police via the 1033 program, would prohibit local law enforcement from buying military equipment with federal funding, and would create a buy-back program for equipment already in use.
Warren would establish a task force on digital privacy in public safety to establish guidelines for surveillance technology.
Warren would reopen and expand the DOJ’s Office for Access to Justice, which works to expand access to counsel.
Warren would “reduce or eliminate” mandatory minimum sentences.
Warren promises to rein in prosecutorial abuses, including by reducing the use of coercive plea bargaining by DOJ prosecutors at the federal level, establishing open-file discovery, and putting in place responsible standards for evidence gathering. Warren would establish a Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct to make additional recommendations for best practices and monitor adoption of those recommendations, and would create an independent prosecutorial integrity unit to hold accountable prosecutors who abuse their power.
Warren would work to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and would provide full funding to eliminate the rape kit backlog.
“Our criminal justice system is broken—and race is right at the center of what’s wrong. Black Americans are more likely to be arrested, wrongfully convicted, and serve longer sentences than white Americans. It’s time to end mass incarceration.”
Ending private prisons and exploitation for profit
Medium, 2019 | Elizabeth Warren
“We need significant reform in both criminal justice and in immigration, to end mass incarceration and all of the unnecessary, cruel, and punitive forms of immigration detention that have taken root in the Trump Administration.”
Ending private prisons and exploitation for profit
Medium, 2019 | Elizabeth Warren
“It’s not equal justice when a kid with an ounce of pot can get thrown in jail, while a bank executive who launders money for a drug cartel can get a bonus. It’s long past time for us to reform our system.”
Ending private prisons and exploitation for profit
Medium, 2019 | Elizabeth Warren
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Ending private prisons and exploitation for profit
Medium, June 21, 2019 | Elizabeth Warren
