Issue Position: Criminal and Social Justice

Issue Position

The 13th Amendment was written to continue slave labor via prison populations. The criminal justice system remains historically biased. Today prisoners and prison labor have been turned into commodities via the for-profit prison industrial complex. We need to divest from private prisons and work to promote true restorative justice as well as end the school-to-prison pipeline and the war on poverty aka the war on drugs.This means immediately expunging all marijuana offenses and incorporating those formerly charged into this industry where others are currently profiting by the billions annually. The problem within our juvenile justice system sadly often begins with Student Resource Officers funneling students into the prison pipeline. This has to be addressed then eliminated. I am opposed to any law enforcement detail that policies our students. The presence of police in schools should be for safety and security, not the expectation of contact with children to issue tickets and/or citations. The psychological effects of an expectation of criminalizing students has yet to be studied. Our children need mental health professionals, parent-staffed campus liaisons, and social workers that are equipped to handle and treat behavior issues instead of criminalizing students. When we prevent criminalization in the early stages of life, we provide better outcomes overall.

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