Civil Rights and Liberties

Civil Liberties

Recent actions by President Bush and the Congress have put our liberties under threat. I call for repeal of those provisions of the Patriot Act that violate our rights.

We have been accustomed to turning to the Federal government to protect our civil liberties. But that is not the only place to turn. State law can also be used to protect our rights. I would seek to enact laws that protect rights that are being infringed upon by the Federal government. For example, state law can protect us from investigations without a warrant or judicial approval of the books we take out from the public library. And I would support legislation that would hold the executive branch responsible for violations of the civil rights of protestors who are engaged in peaceful and law abiding protest. In our system of government there should be no place for preventive detention of protestors.

While I am concerned about the civil liberties of all Americans, we have a special duty to be concerned about the liberties of those minorities who are unpopular. Right now, Muslim citizens of America are being subject to unwarranted surveillance and investigation. The government must do everything it can to protect us from terrorism. But the only right, and effective, way to do this is to focus investigations on those who we have reason to believe might harm us.

Ending Police Corruption

But while I am strong supporter of the police, I am concerned about police corruption. The newspapers have been full of stories about sexual scandals and their cover-up in the state police. And the recent report by Ellen Green-Ceisler of the police Integrity and Accountability Office tells us that some policemen in Philadelphia continue to abuse their power and violate the law and little is done to discipline them.

Everything we know about politics tells us that no branch of government can control itself or investigate itself. Police corruption and abuse of power cannot be controlled if we do not have external watchdogs. I support a Civilian Review Board for the Philadelphia Police. Such a board should have overall responsibility for conducting investigations into police misconduct and for apposing the appropriate penalties.

Ending Racial Discrimination

In my lifetime enormous progress have been made fighting the original sin of American politics—racism. But much more needs to be done.

Racial profiling of African Americans and Latinos continues to be a serious problem in law enforcement. According to a 1999 study by the American Civil Liberties union “Approximately 72 percent of all drivers subject to routine traffic stops on an interstate in the Northeast were African-Americans, despite the fact that African Americans account for only 17 percent of the driving population.” I will fight for legislation that prohibits racial profiling in law enforcement.

I also would provide greater funds for the investigation of racial discrimination in employment and housing. Every few years a sociologist hire white and black actors, given them identical resumes and financial histories, and send them out to the job and housing market. And every few years, these studies show racial discrimination continues, albeit at lower levels in the past. These improvements, however, are not good enough. I would insist that our Attorney General, District Attorneys and the Commission on Human Rights use these tools to investigate racial discrimination in depth whenever citizens report it. And they should make reporting of discrimination substantially easier than it is today. (Searching the keywords “discrimination” “equal opportunity” or “civil rights” on the main Pennsylvania web page returns no results.) If we can be proactive in investigating our political officials, why should we not be pro-active in investigating the actions of businesses and individuals that stifle opportunity for our fellow citizens?

Women’s Reproductive Rights

I am pro-choice. I will work to protect and preserve the right to choose while promoting policies that improve women’s health and make abortion less necessary.

Prison Overcrowding and Sentencing Reform

The state prisons of Pennsylvania are overcrowded. Prison is already too often cruel to many of the inmates. Conditions will get worse, and the violence that is too much of a prison life will be exacerbated. Too many people are imprisoned for nonviolent crimes. Rather than building new prisons, we need to reform sentencing standards so as to find alternatives to prison time for nonviolent offenders. We should use rehabilitation and training programs and the kinds of house arrest made possible by new technology as an alternative to prison time. But we should also make sure that the availability of these alternatives actually replaces prison time, rather than serving as a means by which the state can expand the number of people who are under its direct supervision.

I am also concerned about disparities in sentencing between different kinds of crime, including different

Ending Discrimination against Gays and Lesbians

Gays and lesbians deserve the same rights as all other citizens. I will fight for their rights in every respect. I will work for legislation to include sexual orientation, gender identity and expression in Pennsylvania’s anti-discrimination laws, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and the Pennsylvania Fair Educational Opportunities Act. I will seek to overturn the grossly misnamed Defense of Marriage Act. I will work to make civil marriage available to all.

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