Issue Position: Criminal Justice Reform

Issue Position

There is a pipeline to prisons in many communities in our country, and we must provide individuals with every opportunity to keep themselves from getting stuck in this pipeline. As a pediatrician, I see children who are subjected to constant stress in their household through poverty, exposure to domestic violence, instability or mental illness in their caregiver, and the incarceration of a parent. Some of these children overcome these difficulties but far too many of them will be set up for an adulthood of instability and eventual incarceration themselves. We need to address the troubles that plague too many communities and lead to so many of their young people spending a portion of their lives behind bars.

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