Donna has fought to end the sale of military weapons to local law enforcement and to eliminate cash bail, fines, and other penalties that prey upon low-income individuals and undermine the best interests of our communities. Donna will fight to require background checks, close the gun-show loophole, ban the sale of assault weapons, eliminate high-capacity magazines, and stop straw gun purchases.
Criminal Justice Reform
Donna will use her experience to lead the fight to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to hold law enforcement accountable and keep our communities – especially our communities of color – safe.
In Congress, Donna helped pass critical pieces of criminal justice reform like the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 as a first step towards addressing fairness standards in our sentencing laws. She has been a strong advocate for the elimination of cash bail, fines, and other penalties that prey upon low-income individuals and undermine the best interests of our communities. She supports legislation to “ban the box,” removing questions about past felony convictions for those seeking employment or higher education, as well as a Second Chance Act that would allow people who have made mistakes in the past, and paid for them, to put those mistakes fully behind them and move on in their lives - including the expungement of convictions for charges that are no longer considered criminal under current criminal code. Donna believes that the surest way to prevent re-incarceration is through education. This is why she sponsored legislation to reinstate Pell Grant eligibility to incarcerated persons. Donna was instrumental in getting federal funding for an education program at Jessup Prison in Maryland. Donna also supports ending private prisons, eliminating mandatory minimum sentences, the use of treatment and diversion programs as opposed to incarceration, and reducing our incarcerated population overall.
Donna supports legalizing and regulating marijuana at the federal level and the immediate release of individuals who are incarcerated for nonviolent marijuana-related crimes, and the expungement of marijuana-related convictions from their records.
As a past co-sponsor of the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act, Donna has been working to find common-sense steps to enhance accountability, increase transparency, and demilitarize our police departments, so the public they serve can see them as trusted allies, not enemy combatants. . We need to fund alternative response programs so that appropriately trained public safety officers can de-escalate situations caused by mental health issues, which now too often end with the lethal firing of a weapon. Donna believes we must strike the appropriate balance between supporting responsible officers who put their lives on the line and building relationships so the communities they serve can trust them.
In Congress, Donna was one of only 62 House members (43 Democrats) to support an amendment that would have prevented the Department of Defense from distributing heavy weapons and vehicles to local police forces. While Donna applauds the efforts and courage our police departments continue to show every day, she knows that militarizing them has only led to greater mistrust between them and the communities they serve.
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