Policy Priorities
Safety & Criminal Justice
- Public Safety: Advocate for federal funding to strengthen law enforcement training and community policing, use grantmaking powers and conditional funding to incentivize use of evidence-informed violence prevention strategies, address urban crime spikes while respecting Second Amendment rights, the right to due process, and protecting the 8th amendment right to a justice system free of Cruel and Unusual Punishment (including excessive fees), incentivize a return to habilitation and rehabilitation of incarcerated individuals so that, upon release, they can become economically self-sufficient and productive members of society.
- Champion a national standard that not only exonerates the innocent but restores them—through trauma-informed care, safe conditions, full reentry support, and automatic compensation for wrongful convictions. We do not have a "rule of the law" when miscarriages of justice are allowed to persist. Justice demands more than release; it requires rehabilitation, compensation for quality of life lost, and the rebuilding of lives wrongfully shattered by the failures of the justice systems or/and its officials.
- Call for investigation of the federal implications and impacts of "equity-focused" criminal justice laws. The criminal justice system must be humane, efficient at prevention of crime, fair with accountability for criminal acts, and effective in its operations/reforms. For example, I would call for impacts assessment and investigating if the Illinois SAFE-T Act’s cash bail elimination significantly increases crime affecting interstate commerce (e.g., drug trafficking across state lines) and implement reporting strategies to quickly identify such unintended consequences, identifying risk mitigation strategies to ensure law and order and public safety are not compromised, and train law enforcement officers to resolve confusion about "risk assessment" related to detention and pursuit of those caught in criminal acts. Following passage of Illinois' SAFE-T Act, data from McHenry County shows a 30% crime increase among those on pretrial release and a 280% rise in court failures.
- Leverage investigative powers and offers of technical assistance to replicate what works to ensure safety and integrity in criminal justice actions.
- Support development of a Taskforce on 'Transparency in Crime Data Collection & Reporting." Priorities include investigating how national interests and safety of vulnerable communities are impacted by reporting of demographic information about suspects of criminal activity. Encourage standardization of demographic data collection including immigration status on maternal and paternal lines, country of origin, race, ethnicity, and other relevant markers.
- Protect the right to bear arms, including promotion of responsible gun ownership, handling, and storage of firearms.
- Equip law enforcement agencies with additional training and capacity building to respond to reports of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, gender-based violence (including male victims), and related privacy concerns.
Issues
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Safety & Criminal Justice
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When you donate to Long for Senate 2026, you are saying "yes" to economic growth, health and wellbeing, protection for women and girls, strong men and boys, parental rights, safety and criminal justice, and lower immigration.