Issue Position: Crime and Justice

Issue Position

As a former county prosecutor, Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger believes state and local law enforcement are the experts on how to best protect their citizens. In general, he defers to the wishes of the law enforcement agencies in his district when weighing federal judicial policy. Dutch believes:

The best way to fight crime is to support local law enforcement.
Dutch is proud to have secured millions of dollars to help Maryland and its local police departments fight criminals, including the funding needed to set up the first-of-its-kind, multi-jurisdictional gang taskforce. He has also secured millions to re-hire laid-off local police officers and firefighters and replace outdated safety equipment. Drawing on his experiences as Baltimore County Executive, he advocates on behalf of school resource officers -- which protect students, teachers and staff -- while in Congress.

Citizens have a right to responsibly bear arms, but we can do a better job regulating the sale and transfer of guns and ammunition.
Dutch strongly believes in the Second Amendment, but we also have a Constitutional responsibility to protect American citizens from harm. He supports efforts to ban true assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, which have been the weapons of choice for mass shooters because their sole purpose is to inflict as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. When assault weapons or high-capacity magazines have been used in a shooting, the number of casualties has increased 63 percent. So while a ban may not stop these attacks, it will help drastically reduce the bloodshed.

Dutch also supports requiring background checks for all gun sales, including those purchased online and at gun shows and addressing the sale of firearms to the mentally ill.

To alleviate prison over-crowding, we should save mandatory minimums for the really bad guys.
Mandatory minimums for minor drug offenses are bogging our prison system down and costing young people who make one poor decision their entire futures. We should concentrate prison space on violent and career criminals by focusing mandatory minimums on leaders and supervisors of drug trafficking organizations. Dutch supports legislation that would reduce mandatory minimums for certain non-violent, first-time drug offenders, reduce the 3-strike mandatory life sentence to 25 years, allow drug sentences to be enhanced based upon prior convictions for serious violent felonies and broaden the existing safety valve for low-level drug offenders with prior misdemeanors.

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