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Jay Gonzalez on Crime
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Treat underlying conditions that contribute to crime
Nothing predicts a person's future involvement with the criminal justice system as strongly as spending their first day in jail. To make our communities safer, we need criminal justice reform from the front end to the back end. We need to do everything
we can to prevent crime. We need to invest in education and housing and shared economic growth, giving even our most at-risk residents healthy and productive pathways.When crime does occur, we need to deal with it effectively, swiftly and fairly.
We need to treat the underlying conditions that contribute to crime, especially mental illness and addiction. We need to give all parts of the system, including police, prosecutors, public defenders, and corrections systems, a wider range of tools and
options to tailor punishment and rehabilitation to the particular facts of a case and needs of the defendant. We need to expand in-prison and post-release programs to stop the cycle of recidivism and reincarceration.
Source: 2018 Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign website jay4ma.com
, Dec 12, 2017
Over-incarceration has terrible costs for society
Overincarceration is terribly expensive for taxpayers--over $53,000 per inmate per year in state prison. Corrections spending per inmate in Massachusetts is rising faster than other areas of the budget. Overcrowding in our jails crowds out other
important investments Massachusetts needs to make in our Commonwealth.Overincarceration has terrible costs for individuals, families and communities as well. Former inmates earn 40% less each year than they would have earned had they not been
incarcerated.
The overincarceration problem starts even before a defendant goes to trial. Unlike federal and many state courts, Massachusetts does not use a validated risk assessment process to make evidence-based bail decisions.
Pre-trial detainees in Massachusetts are incarcerated on average nearly 60 days before release, compared to a national median length for a felony defendant of 45 days.
Source: 2018 Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign website jay4ma.com
, Dec 12, 2017
End mandatory minimum sentencing
A well-functioning criminal justice system should be grounded in evidence and science, operating on fact rather than fear and treating all who encounter it equitably, without regard to race or income. My comprehensive plan for criminal justice
reform includes updating our approach to juvenile & young offenders; reversing the trend of over-incarceration; making incarceration more productive & expanding programming; and giving victims and ex-offenders the services and support to succeed.
Source: 2018 Massachusetts Gubernatorial website Jay4MA.com
, Sep 15, 2017
Page last updated: Jul 05, 2018