CRIMINAL JUSTICE/LAW ENFORCEMENT Statement (& Reform)First and foremost, our criminal justice system should respect and protect the fundamental rights of all individuals guaranteed by the United States and Mississippi Constitutions. An effective justice system protects and maintains the whole community, yet our present criminal justice system fails to meet the real needs of the vast majority of our population. The punitive and shortsighted orientation of this system conceals the basic fact that much crime is caused by gross economic inequalities. Criminal justice is intimately connected to social justice. A society that does not adequately feed, clothe, house, educate, nurture, and inspire its citizens, especially its children, will be a society constantly threatened by violent crime.The Green Party of Simpson County will promote:1. Restorative justice, as a healing process for victim, perpetrator and community. Rehabilitation, not retribution, should be the object of the criminal justice system. Arrest and incarceration should be the last resort, not the first option. Prisons should be training grounds for the creation of just citizens, not schools for crime.2. A philosophy that addresses the causes of most crime, ensuring that each person receives adequate health care, education, nutrition, psychological nurturing, etc.3. Proactive educational and employment programs to provide an alternative to the economic enticements of criminal activity.4. Policies which seek meaningful input from local communities when identifying and addressing crime in their areas. 5. The creation and funding of civilian police review boards that have the power of subpoena.6. Police should be thoroughly trained in conflict resolution and mediation. 7. The establishment and full funding of community mediation and conflict resolution programs.8. Decriminalization of victimless crimes.9. An end to the violation of civil liberties under the guise of a ?war? on drugs or terror.10. A requirement that courts inform juries of their constitutional right to make decisions according to their perception of the full requirements of justice, rather than the technicalities of extant law.11. Elimination of sexism and racism in our court system through diversity programs for court and law enforcement personnel.12. Increased recognition and support for the rights and needs of the victims of crime, including services for survivors of rape and domestic violence.13. Comparable budgets for public defenders, legal aid programs and state prosecutors.14. Restoring the right of the accused to jury trials and public defenders in all criminal cases.15. Automatic dismissal of misdemeanor cases if the state fails to file a bill of information within 45 days of an arrest.16. Continuing education focused on criminal justice and constitutional rights for all law enforcement personnel in Mississippi.17. The strengthening of whistleblower protection for law enforcement personnel.18. The investigation and vigorous prosecution of law enforcement personnel who commit perjury.19. Returning to judges rather than prosecutors the decision making authority as to whether a juvenile should be tried as an adult.DEATH PENALTYThe Green Party of Simpson County advocates nonviolence at all levels of society, including within the criminal justice system.The philosophy behind state-sponsored execution is one of retribution, not justice, and the application of the death penalty has been disproportionate toward ethnic minorities and the poor. The execution of criminals has not proved to be an effective deterrent to crime, and does not address the underlying causes of crime, which include the lack of economic opportunity and education, drug abuse and prohibition, and child abuse, among others. We recognize the need to protect society from violent criminals, but executions are neither a humane or effective means of achieving this goal.The Green Party of Simpson County would therefore promote:A philosophy of incarceration rather than execution, with assurance that dangerous criminals will not be released as long as they pose a threat to society or specific individuals.Prison Reform: Criminal justice experts from the U.S. Justice Department report that the United States has the largest prison population and highest incarceration rate in the world due to factors such as tough sentencing laws, record drug offender arrests and high crime rates. A report released by the justice department on Nov. 30 reported 1 in every 32 American adults -- or a record 7 million people -- were incarcerated, on probation or on parole at the end of 2005, with 2.2 million of them in prison or jail. The International Center for Prison Studies at King's College, London reported that this number was the highest of any country, with China ranking second with 1.5 million prisoners, and Russia sitting in third with 870,000. The United States also has the highest incarceration rate at 737 per 100,000 people, compared to nearest country Russia's 611 per 100,000 and St. Kitts and Nevis' 547. Groups calling for U.S. sentencing law reform are pointing to these numbers and others that show inmate populations are rising faster than prisoners are released. "The United States has 5 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of the world's incarcerated population. We rank first in the world in locking up our fellow citizens," said Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, which supports alternatives in the war on drugs. "We now imprison more people for drug law violations than all of Western Europe, with a much larger population, incarcerates for all offenses."We feel that ALL nonviolent drug related charges should be referred to Region 8 Mental Health, or ?New Roads? of Mendenhall Program, regardless of number of charges or times of arrest.For more info, go to the http://www.dmh.state.ms.us/ (see PDF, also: http://www.dmh.state.ms.us/pdf/draft_fy07adstateplan.pdf for detailed information. Simpson County Greens opposes "Privatization" of prisons, jails or employees thereof.
ALSO, FROM
http://greenpartyms.org/platform.htm
E. Criminal Justice
1. Abolish private prisons. Allowing private individuals to profit by subjecting their fellow citizens to involuntary servitude is suggestive of slavery.
2. We favor rehabilitation of prisoners. To that end, we support access to education and job training for prisoners.
3. We support halfway houses, fines, restitution, and community service as alternatives to the continued expansion of the prison-industrial complex.
4. We call for the repeal of Mississippi's "three strikes" law. This law has crowded our prisons with nonviolent offenders and devoured revenue that could be spent on education or the protection of the environment.
5. We oppose damage caps for lawsuits. We favor the repeal of all laws imposing them. Individuals and businesses that commit illegal acts must be brought to account.
6. We condemn the doctrine of sovereign immunity and favor legislation making it illegal for state officials and agencies to invoke it. If private individuals are to be answerable for their crimes in courts of law then public officials must be also. No government has the right to expect its citizens to obey its laws if it does not obey them itself.
7. We support vigorous enforcement of laws against cruelty to animals, especially the anti-dog fighting and anti-cockfighting laws.
8. We support independent civilian review of complaints of police misconduct.
9. We support the legalization of industrial hemp.
10. We oppose mandatory drug testing by employers except in situations involving the operation of vehicles and equipment where there is a danger to human life. We favor the passage of laws making such testing illegal in the state of Mississippi.
11. We support the abolition of the death penalty in the state of Mississippi.
12. We condemn the USA Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act as steps towards the creation of a police state. We call on all state, county, and municipal law enforcement organizations to refuse to cooperate with the Federal government in the enforcement of all unconstitutional provisions of this legislation. We also call for all county and municipal governing bodies to pass resolutions condemning the Patriot Act as unconstitutional and dangerous to democracy.
13. We call for the establishment of a state commission to investigate the feasibility of decriminalizing, taxing, and regulating private possession and use of marijuana.
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