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Criminal Justice Reform

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Our Justice system is severely flawed.

As a country we are leading in mass incarceration.

 

  • End the School to Prison Pipeline

  • focus more funds towards Rehabilitation and Job training.

  • make reentry easier (A person that gets out of jail or prison that has no idea where they are going to live or work is more likely to fall back into problems)

  • We need to reduce prison/jail time for individuals convicted of minor offenses, particularly amongst women with children

  • Replace mandatory minimum sentences with sentencing ranges

  • Legalize and Decriminalize Marijuana and use the tax revenue to improve our schools and broken Roads and Bridges

  • being poor should not be a crime: Many people cannot afford lawyers and take plea deals that often times leave them vulnerable for years to come.

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Our Assembly district has two of the largest cities in the Hudson Valley and one of the most diversely populated. Unfortunately, cities like the City of Newburgh and the City of Poughkeepsie have become synonymous with crime and insecurity. Thankfully, over the past few years we have begun seeing many changes within the community that have changed that. We are slowly losing that inaccurate reputation and that has been do to the hard work of community Engagement programs, our Law Enforcement, our religious organizations and many other stake holders that have pushed to build our community up.

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We need to make sure we expand funding and support to initiatives that strengthen our communities:
 

  • Community Policing: Junior Police Academy, Youth and Police Initiative, Crisis Intervention Training and Community and Police Gatherings (City of Newburgh, BEacon and Poughkeepsie Police Departments all have at least one of these programs)

  • community engagement and Mediation Initiatives (SNUG in the city of Poughkeepsie has had great success, yet we need more support in places like Newburgh and Beacon)

  • Organizations that help with housing, basic services, job training, job searches, DETOX, Drug Treatment, reentry and much more (RECAP, FAMILY SERVICES, Stabilization Center to name a few) 

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