Dagen McDowell Quotes

The greatest myth about mass incarceration is that it has been driven by crime and crime rates. It's just not true.

We have to end cash bail.

In San Francisco, I am proud to say that one of my first mandates as district attorney was that my staff would never ask the court to impose money bail. If we believe someone is too dangerous to be released, then it doesn't matter how wealthy they are - we should ask the court to detain them.

People have started to see that 'smart on crime' rather than 'tough on crime' makes sense.

For the past seven years we have been cracking down on crime in Missouri, passing tougher laws for drug crimes and sex offenses and requiring prisoners to serve more time.

'Getting smart on crime' does not mean reducing sentences or punishments for crimes.

Thousands of citizens are confined each year, not because they are guilty of commission of a crime, but because they cannot afford to post bond.

I am happy that the urgency to reform our broken criminal justice system has found allies all across the political spectrum.

Some of our system of mass incarceration really has to be traced back to the law-and-order movement that began in the 1950s, in the 1960s.

There's nothing conservative about allowing ourselves to become so inured to a 'tough on crime' frame of mind that we would abandon tested alternatives that can yield better outcomes.

I don't believe we should allow thousands of violent felons to be released early from prison, nor do I believe we should reduce sentences for violent offenders in the future.

It would be very dangerous and unwise to proceed with the Senate Judiciary bill, which would lead to the release of thousands of violent felons.

We loathe mass incarceration. We loathe police brutality. But most of us have absolutely no idea how to address the critical flaws in our justice system.

One of my priorities is criminal justice reform, and there is certainly bipartisan appetite for that. I think we need to eliminate the cash bail system. We need to eliminate mandatory minimums. We need sentencing reform. I think we need parole reform as well.

I think Kamala Harris would be a fantastic president. I've known her for many years. We've worked on a lot of issues together, including criminal justice reform and also specifically on bail reform. I think she is the leader we need who can unite the American people.

I want to see changes in our criminal justice system.

We will never, ever weaken our resolve to be tough on the worst offenders. But we will responsibly take steps to assist our friends and neighbors who deserve a second chance to contribute to our society.

What we're doing in San Francisco and what we're doing with other criminal justice partners across the state and across the country is anything but indiscriminate. We are being careful. We are being focused and surgical in our efforts to decrease the jail population.

When we look at our justice system, we have this image of a balancing scale: truth and justice, right and wrong. But for years, our system has been lopsided, where it's not about truth and justice or balance. It's about being tough on crime, and sometimes that means you're putting the wrong person behind bars.

Our criminal justice system has swallowed up too many people I love. I am proud to join the ACLU in the fight to make mass incarceration a thing of the past.

The political left has been weak on protecting society from criminals for more than two centuries.

Defenders of the system will counter by saying this drug war has been aimed at violent crime. But that is not the case. The overwhelming majority of people arrested in the drug war have been arrested for relatively minor, non-violent drug offenses.

It's time to end the era of mass incarceration. We need a true national debate about how to reduce our prison population.

I saw in the Nineties that we were increasing police power with get tough policies and 3 strikes laws, but without additional oversights.

The habeas corpus business, that's to show that he [Bill Clinton] is not tough on crime.