Title: Recognizing that the United States has a moral obligation to meet its foundational promise of guaranteed justice for all.
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the federal government should begin a large-scale effort to reduce incarceration rates and reshape the American legal system by

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 226 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 226

 Recognizing that the United States has a moral obligation to meet its 
          foundational promise of guaranteed justice for all.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 11, 2021

 Ms. Pressley (for herself, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Clarke of New York, 
   Ms. Norton, Mr. Evans, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Mr. 
 Espaillat, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Rush, Ms. Omar, Mr. Jones, Ms. 
 Bush, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Bowman, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Blumenauer, and Ms. 
 Velazquez) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Recognizing that the United States has a moral obligation to meet its 
          foundational promise of guaranteed justice for all.

Whereas the United States has an incarceration crisis that has destabilized 
        millions of Americans, caused intergenerational harm and trauma to 
        families, decimated entire communities, and disproportionately impacted 
        communities of color, particularly Black communities;
Whereas the Federal Government has an obligation to rebuild the American legal 
        system so that it is smaller, safer, less punitive, and more humane;
Whereas mass decarceration is a moral and societal imperative that the United 
        States must strategically and effectively pursue;
Whereas the Federal Government manages the largest immigration detention system 
        in the world, spends more resources on immigration enforcement than on 
        all other Federal enforcement agencies combined, and now makes up the 
        fastest growing incarceration system in the country;
Whereas it should be the responsibility of the Federal Government to make 
        America more free by dramatically reducing jail, prison, and immigration 
        detention populations; make America more equal by eliminating racial 
        disparities, wealth-based discrimination, and corporate profiteering; 
        make America more secure by investing in the communities most 
        destabilized by the failed policies of overpolicing and mass 
        incarceration; and make America more just and humane by ensuring basic 
        resources needed to feel safe are equitably provided to all people;
Whereas the American legal system duplicates and maintains systems of oppression 
        that can be traced back to slavery, and as a result disproportionately 
        harms Black communities throughout the United States;
Whereas public safety is of paramount importance for every person, family, and 
        community in this country;
Whereas a humane and effective justice system is a necessary predicate for a 
        functioning and healthy democracy;
Whereas, as recently as the early 1970s, the United States had an incarceration 
        rate on par with most other Western democracies, and while their crime 
        rates today are at nearly identical levels, America's incarceration rate 
        is five times higher;
Whereas the United States of America, a Nation purported to be founded on the 
        principles of liberty and justice for all, has become the most 
        incarcerated country in the world;
Whereas throughout the United States--

    (1) nearly 5 million people are arrested and jailed every year;

    (2) almost 2.2 million people are incarcerated, including 176,824 
people in Federal jails and prisons;

    (3) collectively, 1,273,605 people are locked in State prisons and 
another 745,200 people are detained in a local jail on any given night;

    (4) 500,000 immigrants are incarcerated in immigrant jails and prisons 
annually, marking a 75-percent increase in immigration detention over the 
last decade;

    (5) 4.5 million people are under some form of community supervision, 
including probation and parole;

    (6) despite making up just 4 percent of the world's population, the 
United States is home to 21 percent of the world's prisoners;

    (7) incarcerated people remain incarcerated for longer periods of time, 
and the number of people serving life sentences has quadrupled since 1984, 
even as crime has fallen, and--

    G    (A) one out of every seven people in prison is currently serving a 
life sentence, of which almost one-quarter are sentenced to life without 
parole;

    G    (B) the average sentence length for individuals convicted of a 
Federal offense carrying a mandatory minimum penalty is 110 months of 
imprisonment;

    G    (C) more than two-thirds of Federal prisoners serving life 
sentences have been convicted of nonviolent crimes, including 30 percent 
convicted for a drug crime; and

    G    (D) there are tens of thousands of people over the age of 50 who 
remain locked up though they are elderly, sick, and pose little to no 
public safety risk;

    (8) tens of thousands of people are forcibly deported away from their 
families through an immigration enforcement system that replicates the 
harms of overpolicing and racial profiling by local law enforcement 
agencies due to formal and informal cooperation agreements between such 
agencies and Federal immigration enforcement; and

    (9) more than a quarter of a million young people are arrested or 
referred to law enforcement in their schools each year with increasing 
investments toward school policing, surveillance, suspensions and 
expulsions, harsh discipline, and arrests, in lieu of counseling, 
educational resources, and physical improvements to classrooms and school 
structures, leading to a ``cradle-to-prison pipeline'';

Whereas while incarceration is the final and too frequently end result of the 
        American legal system, the harm is collectively experienced by a far 
        larger set of people, especially Black and Brown individuals, through 
        overzealous policing practices and subsequent correctional surveillance 
        and stigmatization;
Whereas Black people are incarcerated at 5 times the rate of White people, 
        making up just 13 percent of the population, but 33 percent of the 
        country's prisoners;
Whereas Latinos represent 16 percent of the adult population, but account for 23 
        percent of the Nation's prisoners;
Whereas the imprisonment rate for Black women (92 per 100,000) is twice the rate 
        of White women (49 per 100,000);
Whereas Black, Hispanics, and indigenous communities are the most heavily 
        impacted by the American legal system;
Whereas expanded and militarized police forces, including in the form of 
        proactive policing or so-called ``broken windows'' policing, has led to 
        mass criminalization, worsening police-community relations, and 
        unacceptable levels of State violence, specifically impacting Black 
        people;
Whereas women are the fastest growing population in the American legal system, 
        outpacing men two to one, and their numbers have grown nearly 800 
        percent from 1978 to 2017;
Whereas one in two women in prison are incarcerated as a result of nonviolent 
        offenses, and nearly two-thirds are confined in jails due to an 
        inability to afford cash bail;
Whereas a majority of incarcerated women report having experienced trauma due to 
        sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and caregiver violence;
Whereas 85 percent of currently incarcerated women report having been the 
        primary caretaker of children prior to their incarceration;
Whereas a large percentage of currently incarcerated women are either elderly, 
        ill, survivors of domestic violence, or have served more than 10 years;
Whereas incarcerated women are subject to permanent denial of parental rights, 
        which have contributed significantly to the destruction of families;
Whereas women and young people continue to be criminalized and fear arrest or 
        jail for experiencing a pregnancy loss, ending a pregnancy, or 
        supporting a loved one who has lost or ended a pregnancy;
Whereas the toll of incarceration and detention has had a severe impact on 
        lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual 
        (``LGBTQ+'') individuals who are imprisoned at far higher rates than the 
        overall population;
Whereas 8 percent of adults in prisons and jails, or approximately 162,000 
        adults, identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual;
Whereas an estimated 3,209 adults held in prisons or jails in the United States 
        identify as transgender;
Whereas LGBTQ+ people are more likely to experience sexual violence while 
        incarcerated than non-LGBTQ+ people;
Whereas LGBTQ+ immigrants are 97 times more likely to be sexually victimized in 
        immigration detention than non-LGBTQ+ individuals;
Whereas LGBTQ+ people in prison, jail, and detention facilities are 
        disproportionately subjected to solitary confinement as a means of 
        protection compared to non-LGBTQ+ people;
Whereas incarceration can be traumatic, dehumanizing, and harmful for LGBTQ+ 
        people affected by it, particularly those who are low-income and people 
        of color;
Whereas violence against transgender women of color has reached epidemic 
        proportions in the United States, as evidenced by the murder of at least 
        26 transgender women in 2018;
Whereas incarcerated individuals endure jails and prisons that are cruel, 
        inhumane, and are subjected to practices that are not conducive to 
        rehabilitation;
Whereas over 61,000 people across the United States are subjected to solitary 
        confinement every day, isolated for 22 to 24 hours a day with little to 
        no human interaction;
Whereas many incarcerated individuals suffering from chronic illnesses often 
        receive little or no treatment, and individuals suffering from substance 
        use disorders face higher rates of overdose in jails and prisons that 
        prohibit treatment drugs such as methadone and buprenorphine;
Whereas one in five people incarcerated is a person with a cognitive disability, 
        while another one in five inmates has a serious mental health diagnosis;
Whereas incarcerated people are three or four times more likely to report having 
        a disability than the rest of the United States population;
Whereas incarcerated people with cognitive and physical disabilities are 
        disproportionately subjected to solitary confinement;
Whereas people with disabilities are subject to criminalization, violence, and 
        death, including those with untreated mental health diagnosis who are 16 
        times more likely to be killed by law enforcement;
Whereas the total cost of the mass incarceration crisis, including the costs to 
        those incarcerated and their families, is nearly $182 billion per year;
Whereas the burden to pay for the Nation's mass incarceration crisis too often 
        falls upon everyday people trapped in cycles of poverty and 
        intergenerational trauma, and statistical mechanisms to comprehensively 
        quantify the ongoing and generational effects of carceral trauma are 
        limited and oftentimes unknown;
Whereas nearly a half a million people are in jails without having been 
        convicted, often because of an inability to afford cash bail, which 
        leads to an increased likelihood of conviction and lengthier sentences;
Whereas in order to finance the mass incarceration system, many cities, States, 
        courts, and prosecutors levy hefty fines at nearly every stage of the 
        criminal justice process, including--

    (1) fines and fees for being arrested;

    (2) lawyer fees;

    (3) crime lab fees and victim assessments;

    (4) fees to enter a diversion or substance use disorder treatment 
program; or

    (5) fees to pay for public and private probation supervision;

Whereas people leave jails and prison owing an average of $13,607 in fines and 
        fees, and an inability to pay can lead to being denied the right to 
        vote, license suspension, additional fines and fees, and even further 
        incarceration;
Whereas the policy decisions that led to the incarceration crisis, as well as 
        the unjust economic burden to sustain the system, caused inestimable, 
        intergenerational, and disproportionate harm to communities;
Whereas one in two adults in America has had a family member in jail or prison, 
        and one in five has had a parent incarcerated;
Whereas nearly 65 percent of families with an incarcerated or detained family 
        member are unable to meet basic needs, including housing, health, food, 
        and employment;
Whereas children with an incarcerated parent are nearly six times more likely to 
        be expelled from school and increasingly less likely to graduate from 
        college than children without incarcerated parents;
Whereas zero-tolerance policies, including exclusionary disciplinary policies 
        and school-based arrests, result in the growing cradle-to-prison 
        pipeline;
Whereas tens of thousands of United States citizen children have a parent who is 
        detained or has been deported, with approximately 5,000 children placed 
        in the foster care system;
Whereas children with incarcerated mothers are five times more likely to end up 
        in foster care than those with incarcerated fathers;
Whereas a vast, sound, and consistent body of scientific evidence suggests 
        that--

    (1) the best estimate of the overall effect of incarceration on crime 
is modest, and deterrence effects are negligible;

    (2) increased coordination between local law enforcement and 
immigration enforcement has not been shown to have a measurable impact on 
reducing crime and has been shown to destabilize communities;

    (3) education programs for people in prison have been proven to reduce 
recidivism, yet such programs have been underfunded or altogether 
eliminated at both the State and Federal level, including the ban on Pell 
grants in prison, and restoring Pell grant access to prisoners would 
increase the employment rate for people with a criminal history by 10 
percent and improve collective earnings by $45 million in the first year 
after release; and

    (4) the root causes of crime and instability are typically poverty, 
substance use disorder, family and generational trauma, and poor access to 
health care and other basic social services;

Whereas the consequences of criminal convictions do not end with the prison 
        sentence served or fines paid, and a majority of people imprisoned in 
        the United States are expected to return home, return to society, and 
        become productive members of their communities;
Whereas yearly, over 680,000 people are released from incarceration, and are 
        expected to be taxpayers rather than tax burdens, yet the reality is 
        that these individuals go home to find that their sentences, although 
        served, are far from over;
Whereas there are approximately 45,000 collateral consequences and civil 
        disabilities across jurisdictions that prevent people with criminal 
        records from reentering society, gaining meaningful employment;
Whereas in many jurisdictions, individuals with a criminal record are 
        automatically excluded from certain professional licenses such as those 
        required to be a security guard, firefighter, real estate broker, and 
        electrician;
Whereas an estimated 6.1 million Americans, or 1 in every 40 adults, are banned 
        from voting due to felony disenfranchisement or laws restricting voting 
        rights for those with a current or previous felony conviction;
Whereas the Federal Government has invested massive amounts of funding in 
        policing, immigration enforcement, and prison and detention systems, 
        which has accelerated mass criminalization and incarceration and fueled 
        the prison industrial complex;
Whereas 2019 represents the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Violent Crime 
        Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (in this resolution referred to 
        as the ``94 Crime Bill''), and awareness that many of the policies 
        contained in the 94 Crime Bill have proven harmful to certain 
        communities;
Whereas the 94 Crime Bill put forward the false view that punitive systems of 
        policing and prisons lead to public safety and are necessary to combat 
        ``violent'' crime;
Whereas by endorsing and financing ineffective and damaging policies and 
        practices at the State and local levels, the 94 Crime Bill encouraged 
        the growth of police and prison infrastructure while limiting, and 
        sometimes depleting, community investments that would have increased 
        public safety, particularly in underresourced communities; and
Whereas the Federal Government has a tremendous impact on the operation of the 
        criminal legal system at the Federal, State, and local levels and can 
        push for a more humane, dignified, and just society for all: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the time is now for the Federal Government to begin a large-scale 
decarceration effort to reshape the American legal system to--
            (1) support and commit to a participatory people's process 
        that recognizes directly impacted people as experts on 
        transforming the justice system, who speak from experience 
        about the devastation of criminalization and incarceration and 
        offer community-oriented solutions that reduce harm by--
                    (A) empowering directly impacted communities, 
                through people's assemblies, townhalls, listening 
                sessions, and workshops, to inform and draft 
                legislation to repeal and dismantle the 94 Crime Bill 
                and other punitive policies, and replace them with a 
                holistic and community-led public health and safety 
                agenda; and
                    (B) advancing a community-led platform of justice, 
                freedom, and safety, which shifts resources away from 
                criminalization and incarceration and toward policies 
                and investments that fairly and equitably ensure that 
                all people can thrive;
            (2) dramatically reduce the incarcerated populations to--
                    (A) decriminalize behavior and divert cases that do 
                not require confinement by--
                            (i) providing tax incentives to local 
                        governments and States that commit to policies 
                        such as repealing truth-in-sentencing and 
                        three-strike provisions to significantly reduce 
                        the prison and jail population;
                            (ii) decriminalizing sex work by removing 
                        criminal and civil penalties related to 
                        consensual sex work and addressing structural 
                        inequities that impede the safety, dignity, and 
                        well-being of all individuals, especially those 
                        most vulnerable to discrimination on the basis 
                        of race, gender identity or expression, sexual 
                        orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, 
                        and citizenship status;
                            (iii) decriminalizing addiction, 
                        homelessness, poverty, HIV status, and 
                        disabilities, including mental health 
                        diagnosis, by legalizing marijuana and overdose 
                        prevention sites, declining to criminally 
                        prosecute low-level offenses such as loitering 
                        and theft of necessity goods, and expunging the 
                        records of individuals for all drug-related 
                        offenses;
                            (iv) dramatically increasing diversion 
                        opportunities, community service, restorative 
                        justice programming, and treatment options that 
                        minimize court involvement and result in no 
                        prison time for most offenses where the person 
                        does not cause or intend to cause harm;
                            (v) ending the criminalization of Black and 
                        Brown students in school, including ending 
                        zero-tolerance school discipline policies and 
                        dress code and appearance policies that 
                        disproportionately impact girls of color and 
                        LGBTQ+ students, the removal of police and 
                        school resource officers, the decriminalization 
                        of truancy, and the reallocation of funds to 
                        support trauma-informed, comprehensive mental 
                        health and restorative services;
                            (vi) ensuring that any and all new reduced 
                        sentencing provisions be applied retroactively 
                        and are inclusive of impacted immigrant 
                        communities;
                            (vii) creating a clemency review board that 
                        is comprised of community, court, and 
                        congressional stakeholders to identify and make 
                        recommendations of people in Federal facilities 
                        who should be considered for clemency 
                        consideration by the President; and
                            (viii) decriminalizing the act of migration 
                        by repealing provisions in Federal law that 
                        criminalize migrants for irregular border 
                        crossings, significantly limiting the conduct- 
                        and conviction-based grounds of deportability 
                        and inadmissibility, and ending draconian 
                        systems of mandatory detention and automatic 
                        deportation;
                    (B) make confinement last only as long as necessary 
                by--
                            (i) capping prison sentences for all 
                        crimes, particularly those that do not cause 
                        serious harm, and where no intention to cause 
                        such harm exists;
                            (ii) ending the death penalty, including 
                        effective death sentences of life without the 
                        possibility of parole;
                            (iii) ending mandatory minimum sentencing 
                        and providing incarcerated individuals an 
                        opportunity to petition for release after 
                        serving 10 years for any crime by a review 
                        board that includes at least one individual who 
                        has previously served time, to both encourage 
                        and reward people who reform themselves and 
                        pose no threat to public safety no matter the 
                        offense;
                            (iv) ending truth-in-sentencing laws and 
                        reinstating Federal parole;
                            (v) ending the sentencing disparity between 
                        crack and cocaine;
                            (vi) establishing a national compassionate 
                        release standard that includes a presumption of 
                        release for any person with a disability who 
                        has spent at least 15 years in prison, as well 
                        as any person over the age of 50 who has spent 
                        at least 10 years in prison, over the age of 55 
                        who has spent 5 years in prison, or over the 
                        age of 60;
                            (vii) requiring States to impose sentencing 
                        reviewing standards, particularly for juveniles 
                        sentenced prior to their 18th birthday, 
                        abolishing youth jails, and making the 
                        detention of children in any form the absolute 
                        last resort;
                            (viii) repealing overly restrictive habeas 
                        corpus rules that make it difficult for people 
                        who have been wrongfully accused to bring their 
                        cases to court; and
                            (ix) repealing the Prison Litigation Reform 
                        Act of 1996 to return agency to incarcerated 
                        individuals and power to the courts to carry 
                        out regulation and oversight through court 
                        orders; and
                    (C) reduce the risk of recidivism by transforming 
                the experience of confinement by--
                            (i) ending solitary confinement;
                            (ii) incarcerating people, to the extent 
                        possible, at a facility closest to their home, 
                        and at a location that comports with their 
                        security destination;
                            (iii) banning the prosecution of children 
                        under the age of 18 in adult courts and 
                        ensuring juveniles are not housed in adult 
                        prisons but in community- or home-based 
                        rehabilitation programs;
                            (iv) allowing transgender individuals to be 
                        housed in a facility that conforms with their 
                        gender identity;
                            (v) providing access to high-quality, 
                        trauma-informed, and culturally responsive 
                        physical, mental, and behavioral health care in 
                        prisons and jails, including substance use 
                        disorder and mental health treatment, 
                        medication for overdoses, hormonal treatment 
                        and gender-affirming procedures, and full 
                        reproductive and gynecological services, 
                        including adequate services for pregnant, 
                        laboring, and postpartum people;
                            (vi) providing people who are incarcerated 
                        with access to commissary items, and clothing 
                        at rates no higher than those available on the 
                        free market, as well as programming, 
                        educational materials, and personal property in 
                        which all items are consistent with the 
                        individual's gender identity and cultural 
                        preferences;
                            (vii) providing high-quality, gender-
                        responsive education and vocation training and 
                        access to sufficient libraries and reading 
                        materials;
                            (viii) restoring eligibility for Federal 
                        Pell grants to all students regardless of 
                        immigration status and those incarcerated in 
                        Federal, State, and local facilities without 
                        regard to offense or sentence length;
                            (ix) ending forced labor practices and 
                        requiring incarcerated individuals to be paid 
                        for their labor at a rate that is no lower than 
                        the Federal minimum wage;
                            (x) providing generous in-person visitation 
                        for a reasonable duration of time, including 
                        regular visitation between incarcerated 
                        individuals who are primary caretaker parents 
                        and their family members, and access to free 
                        phone calls and video conferencing sessions;
                            (xi) improving the quality of in-person 
                        visits by allowing partners, parents, and 
                        children to have physical contact, a room with 
                        natural light, a space that allows for some 
                        privacy, a place with food available for 
                        purchase, space for children and parents to 
                        play together, and areas that are accessible 
                        for families with disabilities including 
                        American Sign Language interpreters and fully 
                        accessible buildings that are compliant with 
                        the Americans with Disabilities Act;
                            (xii) providing healthy and nutritious food 
                        and room for physical exercise to promote 
                        health;
                            (xiii) establishing and maintaining 
                        reasonable heating and cooling standards in all 
                        Federal, State, and local prisons, jails, and 
                        detention facilities;
                            (xiv) providing reasonable accommodations 
                        for people with disabilities as required by the 
                        Americans with Disabilities Act and section 504 
                        of the Rehabilitation Act;
                            (xv) establishing gender-responsive 
                        practices for all incarcerated people, 
                        including women and transgender, gender-
                        variant, and nonbinary individuals, including a 
                        ban on solitary confinement and physical 
                        restraints on pregnant people and ensuring all 
                        body searches are conducted by staff of the 
                        incarcerated person's preferred gender;
                            (xvi) explicitly prohibiting discrimination 
                        and mistreatment of incarcerated people on the 
                        basis of sex, age, race, national origin, 
                        disability, religion, and sexual orientation 
                        and gender identity or expression;
                            (xvii) creating an independent division or 
                        agency to provide oversight of the Bureau of 
                        Prisons and Department of Homeland Security 
                        with the authority to investigate civil rights 
                        complaints from incarcerated individuals and 
                        ensure prisoners are housed in safe, healthy 
                        environments;
                            (xviii) providing adequate oversight of the 
                        Prison Rape Elimination Act to ensure the 
                        safety and protection of all incarcerated 
                        people, including LGBTQ+ individuals in prisons 
                        and jails;
                            (xix) eliminating supervision revocation 
                        and reincarceration of people subject to 
                        correctional surveillance who commit compliance 
                        violations such as, but not limited to, failure 
                        to obtain a GED, failure to secure housing, 
                        failure to obtain employment, or failure to 
                        attend mental health or substance use 
                        treatment; and
                            (xx) providing support to ensure successful 
                        transition for returning citizens through 
                        targeted and robust reentry programs, including 
                        establishing a Federal agency dedicated to 
                        monitoring and improving reentry supports and 
                        services;
            (3) ensure that wealth discrimination and corporate 
        profiteering play no role in the determination of outcomes in 
        the American legal system by--
                    (A) ending the use of secured bonds or money bail 
                and providing grants to States to establish alternate 
                pretrial systems to reduce the pretrial detention 
                population;
                    (B) repealing the use of criminal fees for 
                probation supervision, presentence investigations, and 
                drug and alcohol testing;
                    (C) ending the imposition of court fees and fines 
                to individuals lacking the ability to pay, and ending 
                practices that result in incarceration, extension of 
                supervision, or stripping of rights for nonpayment of a 
                debt alone;
                    (D) investing in public defender offices at both 
                the Federal and State levels, ensuring defender offices 
                have ample capacity, including immigration law experts, 
                to ensure the quality of defense a person receives is 
                not dependent on one's financial situation and that the 
                quality of defense is not inhibited by unmanageable 
                caseloads;
                    (E) prohibiting private companies from profiting 
                from jails, prisons, immigration detention facilities 
                and alternative-to-detention programs, probation 
                programs, electronic monitoring, or any other form of 
                mass supervision or detention;
                    (F) prohibiting private companies from profiting 
                from the operation of prisons, jails, and immigration 
                detention facilities, including food services, 
                financial services, commissaries, and medical care;
                    (G) delivering resources toward education, fair 
                employment, civic engagement, and access to housing, 
                transportation, and social services for currently and 
                formerly incarcerated people;
                    (H) ensuring the right to vote for all citizens, 
                including incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people 
                and individuals awaiting trial; and
                    (I) ending the practice of prison gerrymandering 
                whereby incarcerated persons are counted in census 
                population counts as residents of correctional 
                facilities and not their most recent residence prior to 
                imprisonment; and
            (4) rebuild the communities most harmed by the failed 
        policies of mass incarceration through--
                    (A) ensuring that dignity and stability is within 
                everyone's reach by--
                            (i) creating a health care system that 
                        guarantees every American comprehensive care, 
                        including repealing the Hyde Amendment and 
                        ensuring safe and legal access to the full 
                        range of reproductive health services, and 
                        eliminating out-of-pocket monthly premiums, 
                        copays, and deductibles for substance use 
                        disorder and mental health treatment in 
                        communities;
                            (ii) investing $1 trillion to modernize and 
                        expand the stock of social housing throughout 
                        the country, providing targeted down payment 
                        and rent payment assistance, incentivizing 
                        local rent control programs, and conditioning 
                        Federal funding on the removal of apartment ban 
                        policies and exclusionary zoning requirements;
                            (iii) providing stability to the workers 
                        who drive our economy by raising the minimum 
                        wage to $15 and tying it to inflation, 
                        providing a Federal job to every person who 
                        wants one, ending the subminimum wage, and 
                        fairly compensating people who provide immense 
                        value to their families and communities through 
                        nontraditional work such as childcare and 
                        family caregiving;
                            (iv) ensuring all communities, specifically 
                        those communities disproportionately impacted 
                        by systemic environmental, social, and economic 
                        injustice, have access to clean, safe, and 
                        healthy homes, water, food, and air, including 
                        the promotion, implementation, and funding to 
                        support the Green New Deal;
                            (v) providing free transportation and 
                        removing criminal penalties associated with 
                        accessing systems of transportation, such as 
                        fare evasion, transportation and street safety 
                        violations that result in ticketing, court, and 
                        technical assistance programs, and banning the 
                        use of biometric data such as facial analytics 
                        technology as it relates to travel;
                            (vi) providing comprehensive supports and 
                        sustained resources to crime survivors, 
                        including survivors of sexual assault, 
                        trafficking and child exploitation, domestic 
                        violence, and gun violence, and their families 
                        in the form of mental health treatment costs, 
                        trauma services, victim relocations services, 
                        and help covering basic needs such as housing, 
                        food, and transportation;
                            (vii) reducing gun violence by regulating 
                        manufacturers, limiting firearm production and 
                        sales, including a permanent ban on assault-
                        type weapons, creating a mass gun buyback 
                        program, and supporting community-based 
                        violence and trauma interruption initiatives;
                            (viii) ensuring reparations are made 
                        through a systematic accounting, 
                        acknowledgment, and repair of past and ongoing 
                        harms to Black communities, specifically 
                        descendants of enslaved people in America that 
                        includes monetary compensation and large-scale 
                        social investments that include, but are not 
                        limited to, debt-free college, homeownership 
                        assistance, guaranteed health care, and 
                        business financing support;
                            (ix) dismantling and rebuilding a 
                        compassionate, just, and humane immigration 
                        system that keeps families together and 
                        establishes a pathway to citizenship for 
                        millions of undocumented immigrants living and 
                        contributing to society; and
                            (x) supporting and prioritizing the 
                        preservation of families, particularly those 
                        impacted by the legal and immigration systems, 
                        by removing strict timelines related to the 
                        termination of parental rights under the 
                        Adoption and Safe Families Act, repealing 
                        provisions of the Immigration and Nationality 
                        Act that mandate detention and allow for the 
                        forced separation of immigrant children and 
                        families, promoting policies and practices 
                        focused on trauma prevention and support, 
                        family reunification, and keeping families 
                        together, and strengthening and enforcing the 
                        Indian Child Welfare Act to ensure Native 
                        children impacted by parental incarceration can 
                        remain within Tribal communities; and
                    (B) ending militarized policing practices and 
                investing in services that provide real safety 
                through--
                            (i) stopping the transfer of military 
                        equipment to local police departments, 
                        encouraging district and States attorney 
                        offices to report civilian death by an officer 
                        to the Department of Justice, and eliminating 
                        qualified immunity for police and correctional 
                        officers;
                            (ii) prohibiting State and local law 
                        enforcement agencies from carrying out Federal 
                        immigration enforcement activities, including a 
                        prompt end to Secure Communities programs and 
                        programs implemented under section 287(g) of 
                        the Immigration and Nationality Act, and 
                        ensuring that localities are never required to 
                        share information with Federal immigration 
                        enforcement agencies;
                            (iii) prioritizing law enforcement 
                        resources to dramatically increase the solve 
                        rate of the most serious offenses, such as 
                        shootings, homicides, and sexual assaults, 
                        including fully eliminating the rape-kit 
                        backlog;
                            (iv) testing, implementing, and evaluating 
                        methods of processing 911 calls that reduce 
                        unnecessary contact between law enforcement and 
                        community members;
                            (v) creating and supporting first-responder 
                        agencies and partnerships to solve problems 
                        that arise from substance use disorders, mental 
                        health diagnoses, and poverty that do not 
                        require criminal enforcement or armed officers, 
                        including the designation of a non-911 number 
                        for dispatch of crisis and trauma intervention 
                        teams;
                            (vi) providing resources for nonlaw 
                        enforcement-led, community-based violence and 
                        trauma interruption models;
                            (vii) funding and empowering civilian 
                        review boards to ensure communities have input 
                        in the hiring and firing of police officers, 
                        disciplinary actions, budget and policy 
                        decisions, and access to relevant agency 
                        information;
                            (viii) establishing standards and 
                        reporting, and providing training on implicit 
                        bias, use of force, and deescalation, including 
                        nonlethal interventions and responding to 
                        crises involving youth, immigrants, people with 
                        disabilities, people with different religious 
                        affiliations, English language learners and 
                        LGBTQ+ and gender-nonconforming individuals;
                            (ix) eliminating the doctrine of absolute 
                        immunity for prosecutors and providing 
                        resources to support better prosecutorial 
                        practices, in line with defendants' 
                        constitutional and statutory rights;
                            (x) ensuring the economic vitality of 
                        communities dependent on the incarceration 
                        industry by guaranteeing a job for every person 
                        who currently works in a jail or prison, 
                        including any necessary training or education;
                            (xi) banning law enforcement use of facial 
                        analytics technology, including surveillance 
                        technologies and risk assessment software that 
                        are subject to algorithmic bias;
                            (xii) providing law enforcement, first 
                        responders, and civilian staff with adequate 
                        mental health services;
                            (xiii) severely restricting the use of 
                        civil asset forfeiture by police departments 
                        and prosecutor offices, limiting such 
                        forfeitures to efforts to disrupt major crime 
                        organizations, such as terrorist networks and 
                        international drug cartels;
                            (xiv) reinstituting the Department of 
                        Justice's role in investigating police 
                        departments that repeatedly violate citizens' 
                        civil rights, and establishing adequate 
                        oversight of consent decrees; and
                            (xv) ensuring criminal liability for civil 
                        rights and Brady violations resulting from 
                        police or prosecutorial misconduct.
                                 <all>