To help guide voters interested in criminal-justice issues, the Prison Policy Initiative published Mass incarceration is on the ballot, a guide to 19 elected offices and their role in mass incarceration. The offices include U.S. President, district attorneys, sheriffs, county commissioners, mayors and city commissioners, city auditors, judges, coroners, city clerks, school board members, governors, attorneys general, secretaries of state, state auditors, utility commissioners, state legislators, members of Congress. Though presidential campaigns command the most attention during election time, the Prison Policy guide makes clear that lesser-known, down-ballot races can also have significant impact on criminal-justice system reform.
District attorneys and sheriffs may be among the most obvious, but the guide includes granular detail about each position. District attorneys, of course, determine which types of offenses to prioritize for prosecution and, on an individual level, also determine whether to bring charges against someone and, if so, for what crime. But, as the guide notes, DAs also make bail recommendations and serve as gatekeepers to diversion programs. Sheriffs are not only responsible for jail conditions but they negotiate contract for services – including phone calls, commissary sales, and tablet computers – and decide what people detained in their jails are charged for these services. Some also conduct investigations and oversee probation programs and officers. Less likely connections to mass incarceration are outlined through the guide’s description of offices like school board members, who can decide whether police have a presence in schools as school resource officers and set disciplinary policies, many of which are directly linked to the “school-to-prison pipeline,” such as when a student is suspended or expelled and when law enforcement is called for disciplinary activities in the schools. “Both of these choices can result in children being tangled in the criminal legal system at a young age,” the guide emphasizes. “Finally, in some places, school board members also are responsible for ensuring students in the juvenile justice system have equitable access to quality education.”
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