Posted on 04/08/2015 2:39:38 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Rand Paul has quickly sanded down some of the unorthodox positions that separated him from most of his Republican colleagues as he heads into campaign season. He's recently proposed increasing defense spending rather than decreasing it, for example, and reversing his earlier support for "judicial activism."
At the same time, there's at least one space where he's strengthened an unorthodox policy position: reducing mass incarceration.
Paul isn't the only Republican senator who's interested in reducing mass incarceration — Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz have also been vocal on the issue. Paul is different in two ways.
First, he's willing to go further than his colleagues are: his bills have suggested everything from expanding welfare to ending mandatory minimum sentences.
What's more, his legislation seems to show different motivations. He has an interest in justice reform that's grounded not just in conservative fears of overregulation and government spending, but in moral opposition to the punitive criminal justice policies of the past few decades.
The Paul doctrine: Expanding welfare for ex-prisoners, ending mandatory minimums, restricting juvenile records.
In recent years Paul has introduced numerous bills that all aim to reduce mass incarceration in some way. They tackle disparate parts of the justice system and, if passed, would mean remarkable change. Of course, because Paul is so far in front of not only his party but Congress on these issues, the bills range from unlikely to extremely unlikely to pass. But it's notable that he's putting legislation out there, not just rhetoric. Reversing overcriminalization. One favorite target of Republicans like Paul is the Lacey Act, which makes it a federal crime to break another country's laws when exporting plants or animals into the United States. Paul has proposed a bill that would turn those offenses into regulatory violations. He's also introduced a bill with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) that would change the federal "scheduling" restrictions on marijuana — forcing the government to admit it has medical value and protecting medical marijuana dispensaries in states where it's legal.
Moreover — and unlike many other Republicans — Paul's also made a point of talking about how criminalizing minor offenses disproportionately hurts minority communities. Most famously (and most controversially), he said in 2014 that Eric Garner wouldn't have been killed by a New York police officer if it hadn't been a crime for Garner to sell loose cigarettes. Keeping juvenile records from following people into adulthood. Paul has introduced a bill with Sen. Booker called the REDEEM Act. The bill would largely end solitary confinement of juvenile detainees in federal prison, and would automatically wipe away records for any nonviolent crime committed before the defendant turned 15 (and seal the records of any nonviolent crime committed between 15 and 18). Ending mandatory minimum sentences. Many younger Republicans want to reduce federal mandatory minimum sentences and give judges more flexibility in sentencing. Paul would actually like Congress to go much further: he's proposed a bill in 2013 and 2015 called the Justice Safety Valve Act, which would give judges the option to overrule the mandatory minimum sentence altogether, if they felt it was too long. The bill wouldn't officially get rid of mandatory minimum sentences, but it would give judges the authority to use them or not on a case-by-case basis — which certainly takes the punch out of the "mandatory" part. Restoring voting rights and even welfare to ex-prisoners. Criminal justice advocates are especially concerned about "collateral consequences," or the restrictions placed on people who've been convicted of felonies even after their release from prison. Paul has introduced a bill that would allow people who have been convicted of nonviolent crimes to vote in elections for president and Congress after they're released from prison. There are other members of Congress pushing to restore voting rights, but they're basically all Democrats. And Paul and Booker's REDEEM Act would not only set out a process for ex-prisoners to ask to get their records sealed — which would likely make it much easier for them to get jobs — but would also allow federal low-level drug offenders to get food stamps and welfare benefits.
A core part of Paul's ideology
The fact that Rand Paul is willing to introduce a bill that would end up expanding welfare less than a month before he declares he's running for president — while backing away from other controversial positions, like opposition to increased defense spending — shows that he's seriously committed to not just reducing incarceration but trying to undo the damage that mass incarceration has caused a generation of Americans.
Those Americans are disproportionately low-income and disproportionately nonwhite. And while other Republicans, even supporters of criminal justice reform, have often been wary of acknowledging the racial disparities in the system they're trying to fix, Paul has leaned into criminal justice reform as a civil rights issue. He's used it as the centerpiece of speeches to the Urban League last summer (where he described students being arrested for "waiting while black"), and at historically black Bowie State University last month.
This is a political strategy for Paul — but on behalf of his party as much as himself. While many of the candidates and potential candidates for the Republican nomination are putting forward visions of what they want the party to be, Paul is one of the only ones who's explicitly talking about whom he wants the party to include. He's making a concerted effort to get African Americans to take a second look at the Republican Party — through a lot of speeches, to be sure, but also through opening a Republican outreach office in a black neighborhood in Louisville.
But while Paul is more willing to talk about race and criminal justice than his peers, his viewpoint is still a distinctly Republican one. In fact, it's precisely because Paul has been so willing to speak out on these issues that his differences with many African Americans have been so obvious to spot.
His comments about the death of Eric Garner, for example, were harshly criticized by African Americans and liberals, because they thought Paul was being naive or blind about the role of racism. To Paul, it was most important to note that government created the laws justifying New York police harassment of Garner before his death; to his critics, it was most important that police chose to enforce those laws repeatedly against a black man, and ultimately used lethal force to do it. It's that tension, and the distinctiveness of Paul's viewpoint, that makes it clear Paul's position might include some political calculation but has its roots in genuine iconoclasm.
It would be a mistake to think Rand Paul is only supporting criminal justice reform to appeal to black voters — just like it would be a mistake to think Jeb Bush only supports immigration reform to appeal to Latinos. Both of them are definitely thinking about the long-term survival of their party in an increasingly diverse America — and sticking to their guns during a Republican primary. Paul's criminal justice agenda is an assertion that reducing mass incarceration and trying to heal its scars needs to be a Republican priority — both because it will help the party survive, and because it will, in his estimation, encourage the kind of self-reliance Republicans want to see in America.
Welfare should be a temporary crutch, not a cure. If he really wants black votes by saying more people should get out of jail and go on welfare, his thinking is shallow. There are many other options for black Americans, I know for a fact.
I find Rand Paul to be scary. Saw the beginning of his announcement and found his supporters to be scary.
Its an increasingly creepy world.
Our present approach makes it very difficult for a person released from jail to support himself legally.
You have to admit that’s an idiotic policy if we’re trying to bring down recidivism.
Policy changes that would make sense, however, aren’t obvious.
Give the current oppressors a time machine and GW, TJ, and most of our founding fathers would have their doors kicked in with guns blazing.
Alcohol prohibition gave us Al Capone and the Kennedys!
Cannabis prohibition has given us Hussein and the Sinolas!
Do ya notice a pattern here yet?
Eric Garner's "harassment" is on the head of Deblasio who ordered the cops to go after the loosie sellers.
His death was due to his criminal history, poor health and resisting arrest.
Don't know where Garner got his cigs but black market sales of gigs in NYC are a huge source of funding for hamas and other terrorists.
I was done with Paul long ago.
You are correct about current policies. The punishment in a lot of cases becomes lifelong. I can see some merit in his proposals.
We do have a prison industrial complex that is killing us and has to go. There are far too many “crimes” created by our metastasized governments.
However, on the other end of the issue, we need to end “life imprisonment” with a swift death penalty for ALL violent and perverse sexual felonies. Murderers, rapists and molesters need to be hung or shot within weeks not years of conviction.
Addressing both ends of the issue would help get things done politically.
idiotic statements like this shows me he is just pandering and taking a page out of Sharpton’s book.
“Any law> that disproportionately incarcerates people of color is repealed
yes he actually said that in his speech, the man is plain nuts and even more scary than Hillary and that is something.
I don’t consider burglary nonviolent (perhaps that was your point).
It is violence to ones home and well being and can escalate to death very quickly.
It needs to be punished severely.
People say Rand is different from his old man, but I’m not so sure. He makes me uneasy and I’ve had enough uneasiness for the past 8 years.
The more he opens his mouth and more I think he is plain nuts and more in common with Obama.
Actually he is Obama Iran talks.
immigration
homosexual agenda
drugs
“Any law> that disproportionately incarcerates people of color is repealed”
pandering to blacks with comments like that.
reduced military.
no leadership overseas .
Infact he is more to the left on some policies than obama
Oh, couldn't we just deport all the criminals to Australia?
Like his old man, Rand is nutty. He's just nutty in different ways. Ron was nutty re national security, but in many ways, his nuttiness makes sense on some level given that we could dismantle our alliance system, stop becoming a crutch for our treaty allies, become the Switzerland of the world and nobody could touch us. Switzerland has terrain that makes it difficult for invaders. We have oceans on each side, and weak neighbors to the north and south. And we have 300m people to supply and fight a war, making us a hard target for any country in the world.
Whereas Rand is proposing changes that will make our neighborhoods and work places more dangerous. Mentally-speaking, there is something seriously wrong with the Paul clan, and it's getting worse with each new generation.
“Just remember that nonviolent crimes include burglary, auto theft, drug dealing, pimping, identity theft.”
“non-violent” convictions are also often plead-downs from violent crimes too. A guy beats and robs someone. The police catch him, and he has coke. Often it’s much easier to drop the (harder to prove) assault charges if he agrees to plead guilty to the coke charges, which are a sure bet.
I wonder if the same people showing some support for Paul also agree with him that Voter ID laws are racist.
Paul’s outsized concern with Black criminals and illegal Hispanics as victims does not bode well for a potential presidency.
Precisely. With a drug offense, the cop's testimony re possession is sufficient. With other offenses, victim testimony may be required and that can be iffy, especially if the perp has a violent reputation.
The cost to taxpayers for incarceration a prisoner is phenomenal. Prison should be for violent offenders. Drug addiction is a medical condition unless the addiction leads to a crime. People who commit crimes against property should be put to work on public projects like building roads or cleaning trash and made to pay back what they took.
I prefer Cruz or Walker, but even Paul is better than another DemocRat.
Even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut.
I, too, favor emptying the prisons. Prison is a social catastrophe, creating many more crimes (by criminals whose criminality is greatly enhanced by their stay in prison).
Unlike Rand, however, I would accomplish reduction in the prison population by radical expansion of the death penalty and physical punishments.
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