Cory Booker on Crime Mayor of Newark; N.J. Senator; 2020 presidential contender (withdrawn)

Sub-sections under Crime:
• Prison Reform
• Voting Record
• Other issues under Crime

Presidential office on hate crimes and white supremacy

BOOKER: So first of all, very clearly, it is a national emergency, the majority of the terrorist attacks in this country since 9/11 had been right-wing extremist groups and the majority of them had been white supremacist and hate groups. And I will elevate, as president, an office on hate crimes and white supremacy to make sure it is a presidential level effort to protect our country as a whole, but I'm not stopping there. We need a Department of Justice that recognizes this is a problem and investigates hate crimes. 30% of LGBTQ youth have reported missing school in the last month because of fears for their physical safety. We live in a country where we still see regular, everyday violence and intimidation and bullying against Americans because of who they are.

Clemency to 17,000 people who are jailed for outdated crimes

If 87 members of the United States Senate says that these sentences are way too long, and we changed it, but we didn't make it retroactive, we could literally point to the people that are in jail unjustly right now.

Everyone on this stage should say that we are going to give clemency to these 17,000 people. And I challenge you. Don't just say a big statement; back it up with details of the people in prison right now looking for one of the most sacrosanct ideals of this nation, which is liberty and freedom. We need to reform this system and we must do it now. Every day we wait is too long.

More black men are in jails now than under slavery

BOOKER: You know, when I got to the United States Senate, going back to what De Blasio said, as an African-American man in an African- American-dominated community, I knew one of the biggest issue was criminal justice reform, from police accountability to dealing with the fact that we have a nation that has more African-Americans under criminal supervision than all the slaves in 1850.

Legalize marijuana; restore ex-con voting rights

Evolved from supporting Broken Windows theory to opposition

ANALYSIS: : Booker's turnaround can be attributed to two factors: First, his city's police department was challenged on this issue, and the practice was found counter-productive. Second, the "Black Lives Matter" movement took hold between Booker's time as mayor and his time in the Senate, questioning the effectiveness and the racial bias of many police practices. Both of those factors led Booker to "evolve" on this issue. Booker might say that he responded to facts, and to societal change, rather than breaking a campaign promise.

2010: Layoff police officers to push for union concessions

1960s cities had mostly white cops & mostly black majority

Overt racism pervaded the city in the 1960s. Though blacks and Latinos accounted for the majority of the population, they had almost no meaningful political representation. What's more, mostly white officers policed predominantly black sections of the city, like the Central Ward. There were widespread reports of police brutality, and tensions built up around the all- too- common experiences of black youth who were stopped and harassed by the police.

Police doesn't solve problem; they just attend to symptoms

In Newark, a meeting took place at the FBI's Newark field office. As they rolled through the data on violent crime in and around the city, I said to the then special agent in charge, Les Weiser, "How do we solve this problem?"

Agent Weiser looked at me. "Mayor," he said, "we DON'T solve this problem. We just attend to the symptoms of the problem." I knew that by "we" he wasn't just talking about the FBI; he was talking about law enforcement.

Poor & minorities bear the brunt of policing practices

Parks and green spaces are associated with safer communities

Activists and leaders educated me on the [environmental] benefits trees provide, and soon we set out to find every way possible to plant more of them. But when my staff told me that tree planting could actually help in our efforts to reduce crime, at first I didn't believe them. So they provided the data: evidence from studies that there may in fact be a causal link between more trees and less crime and violence. In fact, beyond trees on the street, parks and green spaces all were associated with safer communities.

Real solution to crime is addressing poverty and education

"Nobody would argue with the need for a holistic approach over the long term, but our citizens need help right now," said one mayoral candidate. "I requested federal emergency funding to flood high crime areas with more police." Booker would not comment on whether those dollars would be available but said he has been talking with U.S. Attorneys about immediate strategies.

He also said the violence was not confined to Newark. The Star-Ledger reported today that New Jersey has seen a seven-year high in homicides statewide. "Looking at the whole state, we have serious, serious violence issues," Booker said.

Increase the number of police in all neighborhoods

Cory Booker's work as councilman from Newark's Central Ward has earned him praise from Newark residents.
• Local Nuisance Codes: Organized pro-bono attorneys to fight against drug dealing in local communities through the enforcement of codes.
• Hunger Strike: Organized a 10-day Camp Out where the Councilman slept out and went on a hunger strike against drugs and crime in Garden Spires
• Police Presence: (1/19/00) Fought on the City Council to increase the number of police in all neighborhoods.
• Additional Security: Pushed legislation mandating that private buildings provide more security for local residents.

Cut first responders due to economic downturn

Ran off armed assailant: "Not in our city anymore!"

His heroics aren't merely expressions of physical courage--though they certainly are that. They're applications of a theory of civic revitalization, which says that a single leader, visibly doing the right thing, can influence a whole community's behavior.

In 2010, Booker celebrated Newark's first month without a murder since 1966.

Got celebrities to donate cash for police equipment

There's no public money available for something like that. Booker assumes he'll pay for it himself, or get some of his well-heeled friends to pitch in. Many of the most important initiatives Booker has introduced, from the Emergency Operations Center's huge wall of flat-screen TVs to the police department's bulletproof vests, have been funded with private money--more than $300 million for the city from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Goldman Sachs, and Zuckerberg.

Long-term believer in "broken windows" theory

Booker has been a long-term believer in the "broken windows" theory, which was made popular by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Booker spoke glowingly about this theory to voters during his 2002 campaign, at great political risk. The theory holds that if police officers enforce community standards of decorum (e.g. no loitering, panhandling, littering, squeegee window washing, and the like), criminals will get the message that residents care about their community and will not tolerate crime. This idea led to the belief that police officers can reduce the number of major crimes by enforcing the laws regarding even minor infractions.

Improve police data collection process & homicides dropped

The old data collection system was confusing and not terribly helpful to fighting crime. There was little to no geographic mapping of crime. By revamping the data collection process and giving the precinct commanders greater ownership of their precincts, the hope was that precincts would become leaner, more effective crime-fighting organizations.

Violent crimes fell dramatically in the city in 2007. Increasing the number of police patrols at night, when most violent crime happens, had the effect of either deterring the crime or catching the criminals before they were able to act. The most notable decline was in the city's homicide rate.

$1,000 reward for crime tips leading to gun recovery

Launch Fatherhood Center and pro-bono legal help for ex-cons

Police overhaul to change cronyism, favoritism, and cynicism

Alerted via e-mail every time there was a shooting, and frantic to avoid another one, he started hitting the hoops court at midnight to help keep kids busy and out of harm's way. Then he began going out on night patrols in cruisers with cops, rolling up to shady characters and initiating come-to-Jesus conversations about what they were doing with their lives. The foolhardy gambit had its impact: Booker's dedication started to rub off on the department. More orthodox strategies have included what's known as the broken windows theory--the idea that attention to basic quality-of-life issues can ultimately help avert serious crimes.

Applied "broken windows theory" in Newark policing

Broken criminal justice system kindest to rich and guilty

Cut mandatory minimum sentences; end solitary for juveniles

Rich-and-guilty treated better than poor-and-innocent

A federal judge sentenced Manafort to nearly four years in prison on eight charges of bank and tax fraud, but his sentence will be cut to three years and two months after he was given credit for time served. Federal sentencing guidelines suggested Manafort be sentenced to 19 1/2 to 24 years.

Ended "three strike penalty"; more reform is needed

Opportunities for dropouts: avoid school-to-prison pipeline

Anti-recidivism funds much scanter than prison funds

If you go to prison for a nonviolent crime, you will return to society as part of a growing group of second-class citizens--often denied basic citizenship rights such as being able to vote or serve on a jury. If you have a felony conviction, your face often overwhelming obstacles to getting a job, obtaining housing.

Over the years, our initiatives helped keep thousands of Newarkers from recidivating--and they cost a fraction of what taxpayers would have spent rearresting, retrying, and reimprisoning these people. The irony remains that money for efforts to put and keep people in jail and prison is far easier to come by than the scant funds we cobbled together to run these fledgling programs. I always had the feeling that although we were making an important difference, we were not fixing the system.

Reduced crime by helping prisoners coming home

Theory of "broken windows" doesn't drive down crime

Decades after these practices were documented, judicially upheld and implemented across our nation, the DOJ alleged that our use of stop-and-frisk and quality-of-life summonses were not helping us drive down crime and that these tactics actually undermined residents' quality of life.

Mass incarceration has failed

I am also growing more hopeful about issues of race and the criminal justice system. We can't achieve our ideals of safety and security in our country without confronting the persistent realities of race in our criminal justice system. When it comes to policing, the attention being paid to videos of minorities being treated badly by police is good--if we learn from them.

Prison construction draws resources from other priorities

• The federal incarceration rate has increased 800% and state incarceration rates have increased 500% since 1980.
• Our nation is now the undisputed incarceration capital of the world. America has roughly 5% of the globe's population but about 25%--one out of every four--of the imprisoned people on the planet.
• Roughly 1/3 of all adult Americans have an arrest record.

In the years between 1990 and 2005, a new prison opened EVERY TEN DAYS. The astonishing rate of construction draws precious public resources away from other priorities. At the same time, America--which once had the top-ranked infrastructure, from roads to bridges to airports, seaports, and electrical grids--has slipped to 12th place.

Prisons grow irrespective of crime rates

In fact, Americans are increasingly detained in jails for simply being too poor to pay a fine or from conduct stemming from mental illness, homelessness, or addiction. Instead of empowering people to succeed or treating their addictions or mental health problems, our overuse of detention, jail, and incarceration aggravates their problems. Being poor should not be a crime. Incarcerating a person further undermines his or her ability to achieve economic stability, and have an arrest record that makes the person even less employable.

Incarceration isn't working; focus on preventing recidivism

• We launched ex-offender reentry programs that drove down recidivism rates;
• We created a youth court, community court, and veterans court -- the community court and veterans court are the first of their kind in the state, designed to connect low level offenders with specialized resources to reduce recidivism and better protect our neighborhoods.
• We expanded mentoring programs, youth programing, recreation spaces, and youth employment opportunities to engage our kids in constructive activities that lead to productive pathways, not prison.

Bipartisan solution to reduce recidivism

We as a people can never allow our inability to do everything, [such as] solving poverty, to undermine our determinations to do something. And so I'm a child of a generation that said, "I'm going to do something to make this world a better place."

[For example], the Manhattan Institute is a right-leaning think tank. I have lots of disagreements with their leadership, but we said that one of the biggest problems in America is mass incarceration. It's one of the most expensive governments that's gone out of control and it fails. They release those people and the majority of them come back. And we found ways to get together and do reentry programs of dramatically-reduced recidivism.

We have a politics in this country that's failing its people.

Prisoner re-entry is the new front line of civil rights

His administration's prisoner reentry plan proceeded with fits and starts.

ReLeSe: Pro bono legal services to ex-offenders

Every dollar we invest in re-entry initiatives results in many more dollars saved as we reduce our dependency on courts, police and jails. These programs must, and, under our leadership will, expand in the coming years.

Make lynching a hate crime

• Booker has made criminal justice reform one of his top issues in the Senate, and scored a victory last year with the passage of the bipartisan First Step Act.
• The law, which overhauled sentencing guidelines and prison conditions, was an updated version of a bill Booker first sponsored in 2015. Booker's personal connection to the criminal justice system, which he has called a "cancer on the soul of our nation," goes back more than two decades to when he ran free clinics to help Newark residents expunge their criminal records.
• Booker joined the Senate's two other black members--Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., in introducing a bill to make lynching a hate crime.
• Booker also cited concerns about Jeff Sessions' record on civil rights at the Alabama senator's confirmation hearing for attorney general.

First step: reduce recidivism & mass incarceration.

Congressional Summary:

• TITLE I--RECIDIVISM REDUCTION: establish a risk and needs assessment system to evaluate the recidivism risk of prisoners; to guide housing assignments; and to reward participation in recidivism reduction programs.
• TITLE II--BUREAU OF PRISONS SECURE FIREARMS STORAGE: allow federal correctional officers to securely store and carry concealed firearms on BOP premises outside the security perimeter of a prison.
• TITLE III--RESTRAINTS ON PREGNANT PRISONERS PROHIBITED: limits the use of restraints on federal prisoners who are pregnant or in postpartum recovery.
• TITLE IV--SENTENCING REFORM: reduces the enhanced mandatory minimum prison terms for certain repeat drug offenses.

Opposing press release from Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-1):: The reform sentencing laws in this bill may compromise the safety of our communities. Criminals convicted of violent crimes would have the opportunity to achieve `low risk` status and become eligible for early release. California already has similar laws in place--Propositions 47 and 57--which have hamstrung law enforcement and caused a significant uptick in crime.

Supporting press release from Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-10):: S. 756 establishes a new system to reduce the risk that [federal prisoners] will commit crimes once they are released. Critically, S. 756 would not only implement these reforms to our prison system, but it also takes a crucial first step toward addressing grave concerns about our sentencing laws, which have for years fed a national crisis of mass incarceration. The bill is a `first step` that demonstrates that we can work together to make the system fairer in ways that will also reduce crime and victimization.

Legislative outcome: Concurrence Passed Senate, 87-12-1, on Dec. 18, 2018; Concurrence Passed House 358-36-28, Dec. 20, 2018; President Trump signed, Dec. 21, 2018

Rated 9% by the NAPO, indicating a police-the-police stance.

Ratings by the National Association of Police Organizations indicate support or opposition to issues of importance to police and crime. The organization`s self-description: `The National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) is a coalition of police units and associations from across the United States. NAPO was organized for the purpose of advancing the interests of America`s law enforcement officers through legislative advocacy, political action, and education.

`Increasingly, the rights and interests of law enforcement officers have been the subject of legislative, executive, and judicial action in the nation’s capital. NAPO works to influence the course of national affairs where law enforcement interests are concerned. The following list includes examples of NAPO’s accomplishments:

• Enactment of the Fair Sentencing Act
• Enactment of the National AMBER Alert Act
• Enactment of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
• Enactment of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act
• Enactment of the Law Enforcement Officers` Safety Act (Right to Carry Legislation)

VoteMatch scoring for the NAPO ratings is as follows:

• 0%-50%: soft on crime and police issues;
• 50%-75%: mixed record on crime and police issues;
• 75%-100%: tough on crime and police issues.