3.3.3: Public Safety, Justice & Crime Prevention.
Other Information:
In the last four years, rates of serious crimes, like murder, rape, and robbery, have reached 50-year lows, but there is more
work to do. President Obama and Democrats are fighting for new funding that will help keep cops on the street and support
our police, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians. Republicans and Mitt Romney have opposed and even ridiculed these
proposals, but we believe we should support our first responders. We support efforts to ensure our courageous police officers
and first responders are equipped with the best technology, equipment, and innovative strategies to prevent and fight crimes.
We will end the dangerous cycle of violence, especially youth violence, by continuing to invest in proven community-based
law enforcement programs such as the Community Oriented Policing Services program. We will reduce recidivism in our neighborhoods.
We created the Federal Interagency Reentry Council in 2011, but there's more to be done. We support local prison-to-work programs
and other initiatives to reduce recidivism, making citizens safer and saving the taxpayers money. We understand the disproportionate
effects of crime, violence, and incarceration on communities of color and are committed to working with those communities
to find solutions. We will continue to fight inequalities in our criminal justice system. We believe that the death penalty
must not be arbitrary. DNA testing should be used in all appropriate circumstances, defendants should have effective assistance
of counsel, and the administration of justice should be fair and impartial. That's why we enacted the Fair Sentencing Act,
reducing racial disparities in sentencing for drug crimes. That's why President Obama appointed two distinguished jurists
to the Supreme Court: Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. Moving forward, we will continue to nominate and confirm judges
who are men and women of unquestionable talent and character and will always demonstrate their faithfulness to our law and
our Constitution and bring with them a sense of how American society works and how the American people live. We must help
state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement work together to combat and prevent drug crime and drug and alcohol
abuse, which are blights on our communities. We have increased funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program over
the last four years, and we will continue to expand the use of drug courts. We support the rights of victims to be respected,
heard, and compensated. We are committed to ending violence against women. We support reauthorizing the bipartisan Violence
Against Women Act and oppose the proposals by Republicans in the House of Representatives that would undermine this law and
deprive law enforcement of the tools it needs to combat violence against women.
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