Criminal Justice
Many of our criminal justice policies are good; they protect our loved ones and communities. At the same time, far too many of our laws are ineffective or do more harm than good. I am committed to reforming criminal justice so that it is sensible, effective and consistent with our notions of equality and fairness.
Key Justice Initiatives
As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, and its Task Force on Over-Criminalization, I am urging reforms that will improve criminal justice. I believe we could drastically reduce prison overcrowding by repealing harsh mandatory minimums and reserving the toughest sentences for serious criminals who threaten public safety. We should invest in community-oriented crime prevention and intervention efforts for struggling neighborhoods and at-risk youth. In addition, we need to ensure that those who have paid their debt to society have reentry services and opportunities to live productive lives.
Bass Priorities
- Identifying criminal justice policies that are discriminatory or counterproductive
- Focusing resources on community-oriented services to help at-risk youth and neighborhoods
- Advocating for reentry services to help ex-offenders become productive citizens
Co-sponsored Legislation
- “SUCCESS Act” (H.R. 3510)—Repeals the law that strips young people of needed college aid after being convicted of even minor drug offenses
- “Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education Act” (H.R.1318)—Supports juvenile delinquency and gang prevention and intervention to help build individual, family and community strength
- “Student Disciplinary Fairness Act” (H.R. 3153)—Establishes an Office of School and Discipline Policy to reduce the number of children incarcerated based on activity at school
- Universal "RESPECT Act” (H.R. 3560)—Prohibits federal law enforcement from engaging in racial profiling
- “Smarter Sentencing Act” (H.R. 3382)—Reduces certain 20-year, 10-year and 5-year mandatory-minimum drug sentences to 10, 5 and 2 years. It also permits federal prisoners imprisoned for crack offenses to seek fairer punishments
- “Justice Safety Valve Act” (H.R. 1695)—Allows a court to sentence below the mandatory minimum if the mandatory minimum is too harsh