CRIMINAL JUSTICE

HOUSING // EDUCATION // CRIMINAL JUSTICE // GUN POLICY // ELECTIONS // TAXES // WAGES // HEALTHCARE

TIARA SUPPORTS

  • The legalization of marijuana and expungement of past convictions

  • Cash Bail reform

  • An end to civil forfeiture

  • Stopping treating childrens as felons

  • Ending prison gerrymandering

  • Increasing job licensing access to the formerly incarcerated

  • Focus on rehabilitation as opposed to punishment

THE CURRENT SYSTEM IS BROKEN

The United States incarcerates more people than any other country on earth. Although the U.S. only constitutes 5% of the world’s population, it houses 21% of the world’s incarcerated population. Black people are overrepresented in prisons and jails,making up 34% of the prison population. Black people, in other words, are incarcerated at 5 times the rate of white people. In Rhode Island, 2,700 people are behind bars, meaning the state has a higher incarceration rate (361 per 100,000 people) than many developed countries. While latinos and African-Americans make up 13% and 6.5% of Rhode Island’s population, respectively, they each comprise roughly 25% of the incarcerated population. This disparity can be attributed in large part to specific targeting of minorities for non-violent drug offenses. It’s past time that the state of Rhode Island ends the war on drugs that disproportionately impacts low-income people and minorities, and switches its focus from punishment to rehabilitation.

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Rhode Island has legalized medical marijuana and decriminalized the use of recreational marijuana. Tiara supports the legalization of recreational marijuana in Rhode Island. A person is arrested for marijuana possession once every 48 seconds in the United States. Marijuana arrests account for almost half of all drug related arrests across the country. Considering that marijuana is far safer than alcohol or tobacco, it is patently absurd that people continue to be arrested for recreational possession. In addition, there are economic incentives to expedite legalization.  Colorado made $270 million in tax revenues alone from cannabis sales in 2018—six times the state’s revenues from alcohol. Legalization would be a massive boon to the Rhode Island economy, and would allow for more money to be invested into the state’s education and healthcare systems. 

Not only does Tiara want to legalize marijuana, but she also wants to expunge all past marijuana convictions from Rhode Islanders’ criminal records. It is far more difficult for people with criminal records—regardless of the degree of the offense—to find stable employment opportunities. A third of non-working men between the ages of 25 and 54 in the United States are estimated to have a criminal record. As most marijuana offenders have been convicted of no additional criminal offenses, expunging these records would in general make it far easier for these people to get jobs and pass their employers’ background checks. Tiara will make sure that legalization of marijuana comes with the expunging of all past marijuana convictions as well.

CASH BAIL REFORM

Of the 646,000 people locked up in local jails, 70% of them are being held in pretrial detention, meaning they have not yet been convicted of a crime. Most states still have a system of cash bail, which means that defendants must either pay a fee as a guarantee that they will attend future hearings or sometimes remain incarcerated until their trial date. Clearly, this system punishes low-income people, particularly people of color. Black and brown men are given higher bail amounts—35% and 19% higher—than white men. And for defendants who pay a bond premium—a fee paid to a private bond company in exchange for bail coverage——Black men are, on average, charged far higher premiums than white men. Cash bail directly contradicts a sacred tenet of the criminal justice system: innocent until proven guilty. Tiara will fight to follow in the footsteps of many other cities and states, including New York City and New Jersey, and eliminate cash bail for nonviolent offenders. Instead, she would replace cash bail with a required form that defendants must sign, stating they will attend all future hearings. Studies have shown that this change has no significant effect on recidivism or courtroom appearance rates.

END CIVIL FORFEITURE

Civil forfeiture allows for law enforcement to seize assets from people suspected of criminal or illegal activity, even if those people are not ultimately charged with a crime. It is an utterly unconstitutional process, and Rhode Island has amongst  the worst civil forfeiture laws in the United States. 90% of forfeiture proceeds go to law enforcement, effectively incentivizing police to stop and take  people’s private property. In addition, it is up to the owner of the property to bear the burden of proof showing that they were not engaged in criminal activity, and to prove that their assets are not forfeitable. That is, they are assumed guilty until proven innocent.

Rhode Island is also the worst state in the country for equitable sharing, a process wherein federal and state governments share the proceeds of forfeiture. In 2013, Rhode Island was given $230 million by the federal government through equitable sharing. It is utterly incomprehensible that this state so incentivizes law enforcement officials to stop and steal from its citizens, and then forces these citizens to fight to get their own property back. Tiara supports a ban on civil forfeiture, similar to the ban passed in New Mexico in 2015. While the law is working in New Mexico, some cities have found loopholes to avoid the ban. Tiara will fight to close any loopholes that allow cities to refuse to comply with a state law banning civil forfeiture.

STOP TREATING CHILDREN AS FELONS

Children, unlike adults, do not have fully developed brains, and should be treated as such. Rhode Island, however, is one of only thirteen states where there is no minimum age for trying children as adults. Children prosecuted as adults have a recidivism rate of 82%, while those who are sent to juvenile courts have a rate of roughly 55%. And children are nine times more likely to commit suicide in adult jails than their adult counterparts. Rhode Island must institute a law that prevents all children under the age of 18 from being prosecuted as adults. Instead, Tiara would work to better fund services at juvenile institutions to ensure that children who commit crimes are offered the programs and resources they need for rehabilitation and to decrease recidivism.

END PRISON GERRYMANDERING

The Census Bureau currently counts prisoners as residents of the states where they are imprisoned, not the states they are from or lived in prior to imprisonment. This poses a serious problem, as the number of residents in a state is directly tied to the redistricting process, both in terms of congressional and state legislative districts. Areas with higher prison populations are given greater voting power, even though those in prison are unable to vote. This is particularly problematic because the areas with higher prison populations generally have large numbers of white, Republicans, while the prisoners are usually people of color and Democrats. In effect, prison gerrymandering provides  an incentive for areas to maintain higher prison populations.

Tiara wants to end this practice. Incarcerated people are not a political tool; they are people who deserve basic human rights. Rhode Island is one of the many states that still permits prison gerrymandering. As state senator, Tiara will fight to remove this advantage given to areas near prisons and end prison gerrymandering in Rhode Island.

LICENSING

Furthermore, we must increase access to jobs and housing for the formerly incarcerated, as 32% of adults in the RI Corrections system will experience chronic homelessness. Those without a home find it harder to get a job, trapping them in a vicious cycle. With over 70% of occupations for lower-income jobs requiring an occupational license, there is a hurdle for formerly incarcerated people to cross before they can get a job, and a home as well. Tiara supports Fair Chance Licensing, which would prevent previously incarcerated people from being denied an occupational license because of a non-related criminal conviction. People who have served their time should receive full benefits once released, and providing better access to licenses will allow a number of people who are chronically homeless to get a job and a home.

REDUCE ENHANCEMENT ZONES

Currently, Rhode Island is one of many states that imposes additional penalties on drug crimes committed within a certain distance of schools. 6% of Rhode Island is covered by drug free zones. While these zones may have seemed a good idea, they can be quite arbitrary, punishing individuals when school is not even in session. In addition, offenders might have no way of knowing that they are within a zone, and thus risking added charges, meaning that these zones are failing as a deterrent. These zones, which are clustered in more densely populated areas, also mean that people of color are disproportionately affected by these laws.

One study showed that 75% of those charged in drug free zones were Black. There are already laws in place that add penalties for involving children in drug activity. These enhancement zones only serve to doubly penalize people for a crime. Tiara supports the reduction of the size of these drug free zones, similarly to laws passed by Massachusetts and New Jersey. In addition, Rhode Island should enact a law stating that drug free zones only apply when children are present.

REQUIRE RACIAL IMPACT STATEMENTS

Criminal justice and race are inextricably linked in the United States. In several states, including Connecticut, legislation has been passed that says that criminal justice bills must be accompanied by a racial impact statement that evaluates the possible disparate racial impact of each bill. Rhode Island should be the next state to do this, so that our legislators and voters can better understand the impact on Black and brown communities that a criminal justice bill will have.

FOCUS ON REHABILITATION

Our current criminal justice system focuses far more on punishing the incarcerated than on rehabilitating them. This means that many who are released from prison go on to commit crimes once again. The United States has a recidivism rate of 70% within 5 years, one of the highest in the world. The solution to this is not to incarcerate people for longer, but to shift to emphasizing rehabilitation in prisons. Tiara supports the creation and implementation of a harm reduction center program, which would create sites that allow people to safely consume controlled substances. Instead of forcing members of the prison population to suffer, we can help them and attempt to fight the disease of addiction. The incarcerated are members of our society, and deserve to be treated as such. It’s time we treat medical problems with proven medical interventions, as opposed to incarceration.