H. Criminal Justice

The effects of imprisonment are largely negative. Prisoners are increasingly isolated from the communities they came from and are often denied contact with the outside world or the media. Access to educational and legal materials is disappearing. Boredom and hopelessness prevail. The United States has the highest recidivism rate of any industrialized country. Rape is a serious problem in prison. The increasingly widespread privatization of prisons renders some prisoners virtual corporate slaves.

Law enforcement is placing too much emphasis on drug-related and petty street crimes, and not enough on prosecution of corporate, white collar, and environmental crimes. Defrauding someone of their life savings is the same as robbery. Spraying pesticides while workers are in the fields, negligently maintaining dangerous workplaces that result in death or maiming, or dumping toxic substances should be treated the same as other crimes.

At the same time, we must develop a firm approach to law enforcement that directly addresses violent crime, including trafficking in hard drugs. Violence that creates a climate of further violence must be stopped.

Police brutality has reached epidemic levels in the United States and we call for effective monitoring of police agencies to eliminate police brutality.

We support a citizen's right of access to justice. Our system of justice must be made convenient to rich and poor alike, guarding it against big business' attempts to regulate and, in effect, control our civil justice/civil jury system.

The Green Party proposes the following policies:

Alternatives to Incarceration

1. Any attempt to combat crime must begin with restoration of community. We encourage positive approaches that build hope, responsibility and a sense of belonging. Prisons should be the sentence of last resort, reserved for violent criminals. Those convicted of non-violent offenses should be handled by other programs including halfway houses, electronic monitoring, work-furlough, community service and restitution programs. Substance abuse should be addressed as a medical problem requiring treatment, not imprisonment, and a failed drug test should not result in revocation of parole. Incarcerated prisoners of the drug war should be release to the above programs.
2. Prisons are presently serving some of the population formerly held in the mental health system. Ninety-five percent of those who commit suicide in jail or prison have a diagnosed mental disorder. Mentally ill prisoners need separate psychiatric facilities providing psychological and medical care, rehabilitation, and release to appropriate community mental health facilities.
3. The aging of our prison population will lead to huge needless expenditures in the next decade. Prisoners too old and those too infirm to be a threat to society should be released to less expensive, community-based facilities.
4. Juvenile offenders must not be housed in needlessly restrictive settings. They must never be housed with adults. Their education must continue while in custody. A single judge and a single caseworker should be assigned to oversee each juvenile's placement and progress in the juvenile justice system.
5. Our parole system is a failure. Reduction of recidivism should be a goal of parole. Parole should be treated as a time of reintegration into the community, not as a continuation of a person's sentence. Parolees need community reentry programs before release. Paroled prisoners should have access to education, drug treatment, psychological treatment, job training, work and housing. Their persons and homes should not be subject to search without reasonable cause. Appropriate services should also be available to the members of a parolee's family, to help them with the changes caused by the parolee's return.
6. We call for more funding for rape and domestic violence prevention and education programs, and stiffer sentences for people convicted of domestic violence.

   Prison Conditions

   7. Private prisons should be illegal. Corrections Corporation of America ranks among the top five performing companies on the New York Stock Exchange during the late 1990's, and operates the sixth largest prison system in the country. These prisons treat people as their product, and provide far worse service than government-run prisons. Profits are derived from understaffing, which severely reduces the acceptable care of inmates.
   8. Prison conditions must be humane and sanitary and should include heat, light, exercise, clothing, nutrition, libraries, possessions, and personal safety. Prisoners are entitled to psychological, drug, and medical treatment, including access to condoms and uninterrupted access to all prescribed medication. Isolation of prisoners from staff and one another should be minimal and only as needed for safety.
   9. Prison officials must institute and enforce policies that discourage racism, sexism, and homophobia in prison. End racially segregated housing.
   10. The First Amendment rights of prisoners must not be revoked. Prisoners have the right to talk to journalists, write letters, publish their own writings, and become legal experts on their own cases.
   11. Encourage all prisoners to have the opportunity to obtain a G.E.D. (high school equivalency diploma) and higher education. Inmates who earn a diploma have a recidivism rate of 10%, compared with 60% for other inmates.
   12. Prisons should be community-based where possible. Where they are not, transportation for visits should be made available and subsidized. Unless the reason for imprisonment indicates otherwise, parents should have access to their children if it is in the interest of the child.
   13. Incarcerated individuals should retain the right to vote by absentee ballot in the district of their domicile, and should retain the right to vote during parole. [See section B. Political Participation in chapter I]
   14. We support the reinstatement of voting rights and the right to hold public office to ex-felons who have completed their prison sentence.

   Legislation

   15. Establish programs to strengthen self-help and community action through neighborhood centers that provide well-funded legal aid, alternative dispute-resolution practices, mediated restitution, community team policing, and local crisis/assault care shelters.
   16. Establish elected or appointed independent civilian review boards with subpoena power to investigate complaints about prison guard and community police behavior.
   17. Maximize restrictions on police use of weapons and restraining techniques such as pepper spray, stun belts, and choke holds.
   18. Abolish the death penalty.
   19. Repeal state "Three Strikes" laws. Restore judicial discretion in sentencing, as opposed to mandatory sentencing.
   20. Freedom on bail must be the right of all defendants charged with non-violent crimes. Mental health and social services should be incorporated in the bail agreement. Laws giving prosecutors the power to deny defendants the right to remain free on bail must be repealed.
   21. Stop forfeiture of the property of unconvicted suspects. It is state piracy and denial of due process.
   22. Implement a moratorium on prison construction. The funds saved should be used for alternatives to incarceration.
   23. Compensation for jurors should be increased and child care provided for those serving on a jury. Employers should be encouraged to continue paying an employees' wages while they serve.
   24. Thoughtful, carefully considered gun control laws such as the "Brady Bill" and the waiting period for record search before gun dealers may sell a gun should be supported.
   25. Enact tough DWI (driving while intoxicated) laws.
   26. A consistent policy of protection against violence in schools should be developed and enforced.
   27. Victims' rights must be guarded and protected. Victim-impact statements are a method for achieving full justice, and restitution should be considered in many cases.
   28. We call for decriminalization of victimless crimes. For example, the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
   29. We call for legalization of industrial hemp and all its many uses.
   30. We call for an end to the "war on drugs." We support expanded drug counseling and treatment.

II. Social Justice
H. Criminal Justice

Our criminal justice system fails to deliver justice. It offers more retribution and punishment than rehabilitation and leverage to return to society to be a productive citizen. Our prisons hold more than 2 million people, often for sentences totally disproportionate to the offense. Minorities and the poor are over-represented in the prison population and white collar criminals are given light sentences by comparison.

1. The Green Party supports:
   1. Repeal “3 strikes, you’re out” law.
   2. Repeal Sentencing Guidelines and restore sentencing to the judge’s discretion within a boundary that makes the penalty proportional to the crime.
   3. Expand Parole to prisoners who have served half their sentence and who have a good record in the prison system. prisoners on parole must be allowed to vote.
   4. Repeal Pres. Bush’s law (Patriot Act) that allows detention of any targeted person suspected of terrorist activity or association, and restore 4 Amendment to the Constitution.

2. Access to Justice; repeal or lessen definition of criminal acts.
   1. All detained, accused or arrested persons must be told the charge at time of arrest and must have access to a lawyer when arraigned..
   2. All non-violent and victimless crime should be classified as misdemeanor.
   3. Legalize planting, growing, harvesting, use and sale of Marijuana.
   4. Make medical marijuana a prescription drug that doctors may prescribe to their patients.
   5. The “war on drugs” has failed in its purpose for 60 yrs. US security officers are often complicit in the drug market. Funding the drug war must be ended immediately by the US Congress.
   6. Legalize growing, harvesting, distributing and marketing of Hemp.
   7. First Amendment rights of prisoners must not be revoked. Freedom to speak to journalists, to write letters to people outside the prison and to study legal procedures from law books in the prison library.
   8. Prisoners must be allowed to vote by absentee ballot and when released, have the right to vote and to run for office.

3. Education in Prison
   1. Enact a law that requires all prisons to offer high school (GED) classes, College courses and technical training to all prisoners. Guarantee all prisoners the right to use the prison library and to order magazines, journals or books.
   2. Include in this law a program for educated prisoners to tutor uneducated prisoners.

4. The Green Party opposes private prisons:
   1. All private prisons must be returned to federal or state ownership and management.
   2. No contracting out of any police services. Maximum security prisons must be owned and managed by the Federal government and their intense severity reduced.

5. Prison management:
   1. All prisoners must have the right to file a complaint for abuse to a civilian complaint review board with sub poena power.
   2. Warden or guard abuse of prisoners and violation of their rights is a serious offense. Offending officers must be suspended without pay and fired when found guilty by the civilian complaint review board.
   3. No prisoner may be kept in solitary confinement for more than 12 hrs. a day.
   4. Prison household services such as preparing food, cleaning, laundry, gardening, and repair of fixtures must be performed by the prison inmates under direction of prison institution employees. Only medical and other professional services (e.g. electricians) may be contracted out.
6. Police performance in the society.
   1. Enact strict gun control laws nationwide and restrict Police use of guns and all forms of control weapons.
   2. Restraining weapons and methods such as pepper spray, taser guns, stun belts, gas, choke holds and tight hand cuffs are greatly over-used.. States must pass legislation that reduce and restrict police possession and use of such methods of control.
   3. Police are paid for by citizens taxes. Fines put on police convicted of brutality, does not fall within that tax obligation.
   4. Police found guilty of excessive violence or brutal acts shall not be indemnified and must pay half the compensation awarded to the victims.