Thread by @BradleyRHaywood

THREAD: Va Dems were criminal justice reform all stars over the past year, yet Terry McAuliffe, their likely gov. nominee, doesn’t have the best record on CJR. Advocates are anxious to know if he'll be an ally. Does his CJR platform assuage those concerns? Let’s find out...

1/24

First, a link & some optimism: even if his proposals are underwhelming (keep reading...), he’s done good things in the past. Example: in '19, he helped elect several progressive prosecutors. Didn't just endorse; he showed up, canvassed & did the work. 2/24 terrymcauliffe.com/issues/justice/

Also, as you’ve likely heard, he restored voting rights to thousands of returning citizens, and stuck his neck out in the process. That took guts, so credit is due (I have, in fact, cited Howell v. McAuliffe in my own quest for justice in the Arlington County Cir. Ct.)

3/24

THAT SAID, this is also where we start to encounter problems, both with the historical record and plans for the future. In his platform, McAuliffe boasts of granting “more pardons than any other Virginia governor.” This is seriously misleading.

4/24

McAuliffe may have “granted 227 pardons,” but what he fails to mention is there are 3 types of pardons in Va. That detail is really important here. Of the 227, 189 were “simple pardons”—merely an official statement of forgiveness. A character reference letter, as it were.

5/24

Another 18 were medical or “partial pardons” of completed sentences; amending a sentence, say, to prevent someone from being deported. McAuliffe only let 20 people out early for non-medical reasons. By contrast, Northam released 17 people (I think) in 2020 alone.

6/24

But that’s politics, I get it—a candidate is vulnerable on an issue, they have to go with what they’ve got. What I’m more worried about are plans for the future.

7/24

On that front, some of what’s in McAuliffe’s platform has already been done, or is close to being done: marijuana legalization & expungements, for example. Credit to the Gen’l Assembly for making multiple governor’s candidates’ CJR platforms partially obsolete!

8/24

Beyond what’s already been accomplished, he has *some* good ideas. We definitely need a pardons director and need to expand parole. Also, a commitment to reviewing pardons within a year is commendable. Increased funding for public defenders? Yes please.

9/24

As for the stuff that’s not so great... there’s a lot of it, unfortunately. We’ve spent a year talking about ending reliance on police/prisons to solve our social problems. Yet more than half of McAuliffe’s ideas double down on exactly that aspect of the status quo.

10/24

McAuliffe is all-in on community policing, for example, framing his proposal as “technical assistance”/“innovation.” Here’s one of many articles explaining why community policing is a euphemism deserving of much more scrutiny than it receives.

11/24
slate.com/news-and-polit…

Alec Karakatsanis is even more blunt in his assessment of community policing.

12/24

https://twitter.com/equalityalec/status/1383059915690893317

Continuing with the pro-carceral theme, McAuliffe proposes funding increases for police diversity initiatives, “procedural justice,” and expanded accreditation of law enforcement agencies. Let’s break those down to see if they matter...

13/24

Diversity is good in the abstract, but data shows that hiring a more diverse police force doesn’t substantially improve public safety or overpolicing of communities color. It also doesn’t do much to reduce use of force incidents.

14/24
researchgate.net/publication/31…

“In fact, some studies have shown that Black police officers may be *more* likely to discriminate against Black civilians and treat them harshly because of increased pressure to adopt an organizational role that prescribes such behavior.”

15/24
thecrimereport.org/2021/01/18/119…

As for “procedural justice,” this “reform” posits that if cops just dealt with people more respectfully & gave them opportunities to express their needs (while arresting them?), there’d be greater confidence in law enforcement, and therefore more compliance/less conflict.

16/24

You know what’s a better idea? Eliminating needless contacts w/police (aka “harassment,” or in certain contexts “driving while Black”). The Gen’l Assembly has done groundbreaking work on pretextual policing; McAuliffe should acknowledge and embrace it. And expand on it.

17/24

Moreover, are kinder, gentler cops really the solution? The problem isn’t cops’ manners; it’s their POWER. Until we acknowledge that, not only will misconduct persist, but we’ll still have 1 million Black Americans in jails/prisons and another 1.5 mil on probation/parole.

18/24

Similar carceral themes pervade McAuliffe’s plans for the DOC (frankly, even including so many DOC proposals says a lot). Specifically, he wants more prison-based drug treatment, to expand detention/diversion facilities (CCAP), and “innovation” in community supervision.

19/24

All of that requires $$. What’s more, he expects the very institution that caused the harm to be the source of its redress. Nothing about ending mass incarceration or the supervision state;or expanding community treatment infrastructure as an alternative to police/prisons.

20/24

That’s the main problem here: the commitment to carceral solutions as a means of promoting racial & social justice. How much more evidence do we need that carceral solutions DO NOT WORK? The system is broken. We need to look past process and start dealing with substance.

21/24

No more narrow focus/“reimagining policing.” That’s what led us to the other stuff that hasn’t worked (implicit bias training, bodycams, etc). We’ve been “reimagining policing”—the process—for 40 yrs. Very little has changed, though & that isn’t because we lack imagination

22/24

End the war on drugs. Defelonize drug possession with an eye toward decrim. Repeal ALL mandatory minimums. Stop allowing cops to use the traffic code to act based on racist hunches. Give judges a “second-look” at extreme sentences for inmates who can safely return home.

23/24

My hope is that if McAuliffe wins, his GA colleagues will help him catch up & see the amazing work they’ve done on SUBSTANCE--reforms they’ve made not just to process, but to the presumption that we should be relying on police/prisons in the first place. Fingers crossed!

24/24