Issue Position: Criminal Justice System Reform

Issue Position

At the most fundamental level, the purpose of the Criminal Justice System is simple: To keep us, our families and our property safe from those who would do us harm. Unfortunately, the government seems, at times, to be losing sight of that basic responsibility. Whether a criminal is in jail or not should be determined by the rule of law and the safety of the community -- not whether the jail happens to have room or not. Likewise, justice delayed is justice denied, for victims, the guilty, and yes, the innocent. And ALL of us must have confidence that we will not have our rights trampled by a system that is intended to protect those rights.

Many of the problems and challenges we face with the justice system are the result of legislative and administrative over-reactions to specific cases or the "issue of the day", whether it be jail overcrowding or unacceptable backlogs in our courts. I believe it is time for us to take a step back, determine what is working and what doesn't, and apply best practices throughout Utah's justice sytem to achieve a level of efficiency that minimizes waste while ensuring that the rights of all are protected -- and most important, that our communities are safe. Rather than just building more jails or turning real criminals out on the street, we must look at recidivism and the entire culture that is turning our young people into criminals and treating them as statistics. We need to be pursuing policies and practices that actually reduce harm and salvage lives -- as opposed to just warehousing them.

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