Mission
The Criminal Justice Roundtable supports a criminal justice system that will result in a reduction in the rate of incarceration that has increased over the past several decades, while minimizing crime and maximizing the safety of our communities.
We Support
- a criminal justice system that is just, effective, equitable, and transparent, and that fosters public trust at all stages including policing policies, pre-trial procedures, sentencing, incarceration, and re-entry;
- the elimination of any incentives for financial profit as a part of the system;
- the elimination of systemic bias, including the disproportionate policing and incarceration of marginalized communities;
- policing practices that promote safety for both law enforcement officers and the communities they serve;
- methods of deterrence alternative to arrest (such as citations) and especially to incarceration;
- collaboration between government and community throughout every stage of the criminal justice system;
- a focus on humane treatment and rehabilitation of those who are incarcerated, with the goal of promoting their successful re-entry into communities when possible;
- reliance on evidence-based research in decision-making about law enforcement programs and policies (including scheduled, periodic audits of programs and policy effectiveness).
(Thanks to the state League of Women Voters of California, upon whose policies this position is based.)
Goals for 2021-2022
- To partner with local organizations in promoting mass relief for the 35,000 people in GuilfordCounty whose drivers’ licenses have been indefinitely suspended for an inability to pay high fees and fines.
- To partner with local and state organizations in educating the public about the money bail system which penalizes the poor. To advocate with the state legislature to eliminate money bail for Class I, II, and III misdemeanors.
- To work with city and county governments to reduce arrest levels, and instead use warnings and citations for low level offenses.
- To continue to raise community dialogue about the purpose of our justice system and the ways in which it disproportionately penalizes people of color.
Resources
Racially Charged: America's Misdemeanor Problem (35:53)
"America’s Misdemeanor Problem exposes how our country’s history of racial injustice evolved into an enormous abuse of criminal justice power. 13 million people a year – most of them poor and people of color – are abused by this system.
Through first-person accounts of those charged under the Black Codes of the Reconstruction era paralleled with the outrageous stories of people trapped in the system today, the film brings to light the unfolding of a powerful engine of profits and racial inequality. With the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, this film provides historical context and examines America’s history of racist oppression."
