O'Malley publishes most progressive and specific criminal justice reform plan ever
Ahead of his speech today, O'Malley released his criminal justice reform plan. He is the only campaign to release such a detailed plan. It's progressive and it has won significant praise from activists:
The plan includes:
Making Justice System More Fair and Just:
Phase Out Federal For-Profit Prisons. This includes closing for-profit immigration detention centers, while using alternatives to detention in the immigration context whenever possible.
Eliminate the Sentencing Disparity Between Crack and Powder Cocaine.
Declassify Marijuana as a Schedule I Drug. O’Malley will direct the Attorney General to move to reclassify marijuana, while supporting bipartisan congressional efforts to legislatively reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug.
Reform Mandatory Minimum Sentencing.
Reform Civil Asset Forfeiture to Prioritize Public Safety.
Ending the Death Penalty.
Dramatically Reduce the Use of Solitary Confinement and Ban Solitary for Juveniles.
Ensure Access to Counsel and Legal Assistance.
Increase transparency and accountability for police through:
Establish a National Use of Force Standard. - He will support legislation to require states to review and amend their own use of force laws to comply with federal guidelines.
Expand Community Collaboration and Civilian Review of Police Departments.
Encourage Independent Investigations of Policing Cases.
Strengthen Federal Civil Rights Protections. DOJ’s ability to prosecute cases is limited because federal officials must meet a very high legal standard to bring civil rights charges. O’Malley would call on Congress to revise this standard so that the federal government can act as an effective backstop for ensuring justice.
Mandate and Expand Data Reporting for all police-involved shootings, custodial deaths, discourtesy complaints, and use of excessive force made publicly available.
Improve Alternatives to Prison and Eliminate Barriers Post-Prison:
Ban the Box. O'Malley will use existing federal dollars to encourage states to adopt “fair chance” policies, which direct employers to delay criminal record inquiries and individually assess job applicants based on their qualifications. He will make the federal government a model employer by adopting fair chance hiring policies for all federal contractors and agencies.
Expunge or Seal Criminal Records including automatically expunging or sealing juvenile records, so young people have a fair chance to turn around their lives; allowing some categories of formerly incarcerated people to petition a court to seal their records; and expunging the records of arrests that did not lead to formal charges.
Restore Voting Rights to People with Felony Records.
Invest in Job-Training Programs That Work and Support Reentry Programs.
Support Access to Higher Education in Prison.
Make Robust Investments in Drug Treatment and Community Mental Health Infrastructure.
Immigration:
Use Detention Only as a Last Resort. This includes using the family placement and community-based supervision policies he successfully implemented in Maryland. He will also work with Congress to repeal mandatory detention and deportation laws, and to codify higher detention standards. When detention must be used, O’Malley will ensure conditions are humane and in line with our basic values as a nation.
Ensure Due Process. O’Malley will also implement critical reforms to expand due process protections in our detention and immigration systems, including providing counsel for immigrants in deportation proceedings, increasing the number of immigration judges and courts, ending telephonic and video hearings for detainees, and ensuring language access.
End Operation Streamline. Under Operation Streamline, federal attorneys criminally prosecute, in assembly-line settings, virtually all undocumented immigrants that enter the United States through the Southern border. Fast-track prosecutions and group hearings raise serious concerns regarding the violation of due process.
Disentangle Local Law Enforcement from immigration enforcement, including by closing loopholes in DOJ guidance that allow DHS agencies to profile Americans based on their ethnicity and religion.
Set High Standards for Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Address Income Inequality including:
Raising the minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour.
Empowering labor unions.
Greatly expanding access to national service and job opportunities for young people.
Ensuring young people can attend public colleges and universities debt-free.
Passing comprehensive immigration reform.
Investing in universal childcare.
O’Malley has done many of these things as Governor including ending the death penalty in Maryland, restoring voting rights for felonies, decriminalizing marijuana and creating a family-foster care system for immigrants and making sure they had legal representatives. As Mayor, he was famous for being tough on crime, he also worked to make sure police were held more accountable, increased funding for drug treatments in and out of prison, etc. He, like every other candidate running, has a mixed record on criminal justice. But, kudos to him for meeting with Black Lives Matters, immigration groups, etc. and putting together such an impressive and progressive criminal justice platform.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm for Bernie, but, O'malley is hitting some important chords. 
(between Baltimore + DC too) I think its largely from 1% ers, and fools who complain about 'rain tax' which was imposed to comply with a FEDERAL mandate!
Gonna go and drive on a MD road now. See ya later!!!
