Issue Position: Criminal Justice

Issue Position

The common thread that runs through our jails and prisons is failed educations and non-existent mental health and homelessness support. The majority of incarcerated men and women do not have a high school diploma, too many others are trapped in homelessness or mental illness. Without support they have nowhere to turn but to the state for the housing of last resort. I'll work to make or prisons safe and humane. People need opportunity to succeed and I'll let teachers to teach to the student and not to the test. I'll work to create jobs to take men and women off the street and for meaningful programs to support those who suffer from mental illness. Education and mental health resources alone could cut our prison populations in half. We also need to get bad law off the books. A kid being late to school is no longer a matter of counseling, it's a misdemeanor. 10 tardies, that includes getting into class a couple of minutes late, 10 tardies and a child can be charged with a crime. That's wrong. We need to clear the books of laws that just make no common sense.

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