A New Generation of Justice: Our Revolutionary Plan for a New Broward County State Attorney’s Office 1 Table of Contents I. Our Statement of Principles ………………………………………………………………4 II. Our Platform 1. Misdemeanor Justice …………………………………………….………………..5 2. Diversion on Felony Offenses ………………………………...………………......7 3. Plea Bargaining ……………………………………………………...……………9 4. Cash Bail …………………………………………………………...……………10 5. Ending the War on Drugs ….……………………………………..……………..16 6. Remaking Juvenile Justice ……………………………….……..……………….18 7. Fines and Fees and Collateral Consequences ……………….…….…………….23 8. Sentencing Reform ………………………………………………..……………..24 9. Conviction Integrity …………………………………………….……………….28 10. Immigration ………………….………………………………….……………….29 11. Gun Violence ……………………………………………………………………29 12. Homicides ……………………………………………………………………….31 13. Sexually Based Offenses ………………………………………………………...32 14. Community Engagement ………………………………………..………………33 15. End Racial Disparities ………………………………………..……..…………..34 2 16. Reshaping Office Culture ……………………………………………………….36 17. Holding Police Accountable …………………………………………………….38 18. The Death Penalty ……………………………………………………...………..42 19. Continuous Learning and Growing …………………………………...…………43 3 Our Statement of Principles 1. The job of the State Attorney is to ensure Public Safety and Justice. 2. Public Safety means safety not just from violence, but from all forms of oppression, including oppression as a result of institutional poverty, racism, law enforcement, and government. 3. Justice means holding those who have hurt others accountable and making victims of crime whole. In most instances, incarceration does very little to make victims whole. 4. Every person has inherent dignity and worth. No one is irredeemable. 5. Kids should be treated like kids. 6. To confine someone to prison is an act of violence and must only be done in those fewest of circumstances when it is absolutely necessary for public safety. 7. The death penalty has no place in a civilized society. 8. Science, compassion, and love must guide all that we do. Anger and vengeance have no place in a true Justice System. 9. In every decision we make, we must consider not just what this decision will mean for our community in the short term, but also in the decades to come. 10. We must work to put ourselves out of business. We must continually strive to build a world free from violence and where prisons are obsolete. 4 Our Platform 1. Misdemeanor Justice: 13 million misdemeanors are filed in the United States every year and account for 80% of our criminal court dockets. Misdemeanors are too-often used as weapons against poor people. Charging folks for victimless, poverty-based offenses not only results in an unnecessary interruption in the lives of those being arrested, but often serves to drive folks deeper into poverty, thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty and jail. Declining to Charge Poverty-Based Misdemeanors Incarcerating folks for being poor is costly to our community in terms of manpower, resources, and money, and does not keep us any safer. For these reasons, the following charges when not attached to any other offense will no longer be filed absent extenuating circumstances. ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ Loitering and Prowling Trespass Possession of Cannabis Possession of Drug Paraphernalia Panhandling Solicitation for Prostitution Criminal Traffic Cases will be down-filed to a non-criminal infraction. (This does not include DUIs or Driving on a Suspended or Revoked License). Diversion for Victimless Misdemeanors For some misdemeanor offenses, intervention may be necessary to ensure public safety and to act as a future deterrence. However, criminal convictions rarely achieve these results. For the 5 following offenses, absent extenuating circumstances, the person arrested will be offered diversion. The person’s arrest record will not be a bar to diversion. There shall be no maximum number of times an individual may enter and complete a diversion program. ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ Petit Theft (from a retail store) Resisting Without Violence Possession of a Controlled Substance Driving on a Suspended or Revoked License (diversion will simply require obtaining a valid license) Restorative Justice for Misdemeanors with Victims For those misdemeanor offenses that have an individual victim, the person arrested shall be diverted to a restorative justice program, with the consent of the victim. For those cases in which the victim does not consent, prosecution will only commence if approved by a supervisor and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. These offenses include: ◼ Petit Theft (from an individual) ◼ Assault ◼ Battery Driving Under the Influence Cases Historically, the trial conviction rate for DUIs has been very low in Broward County. This has allowed DUI drivers to escape without consequences. A robust diversion program for DUI will expand the number of folks who are held accountable for driving under the influence while not limiting the driver’s opportunities in the future. Therefore, those arrested for a first-time DUI in which 1) the driver consents to a breath test, and 2) there is no damage to property or injury to victims will be diverted to a robust first-time DUI diversion program, absent extenuating 6 circumstances. Cases in which the driver does not consent to a breath test or that involve damage to property or injury to a victim, or cases in which the driver has a prior DUI will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine the appropriateness of diversion. 2. Diversion in Felony Cases A felony criminal conviction, even in cases in which adjudication is withheld, has a lasting impact on a person’s life. It can make finding a job, housing, schooling, and public assistance dramatically more difficult, driving folks deeper into poverty. Currently, the Broward State Attorney’s Office only permits diversion for a small number of felony cases. Arrest histories and juvenile records will usually disqualify someone from diversion. Folks that are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents are generally ineligible. Cases that are down-filed from higher felonies are generally ineligible. The Broward SAO also requires an admission of guilt in order to enter the program. These limitations mean that only a small number of felony cases result in dismissal as a result of diversion. Currently, no second-degree felonies are eligible for diversion. In a Kimok Administration, diversion will be the rule, not the exception. A prior record will not be disqualifying and there shall be no limit on the number of times a person may enter the diversion program. Immigration status will not disqualify someone and no admission of guilt will be required. Absent extenuating circumstances, diversion will be offered to anyone charged with a 3rd degree felony in which there is no individual victim. 7 Some 2nd degree felonies will also be eligible for diversion, especially Possession with Intent to Deliver (Illegal Drugs) and Delivery (of Illegal Drugs).1 Diversion programs will be designed with the help of experts, academics, and practitioners from the around the country. We’ll copy what has worked and seek to innovate ways to maximize a reduction in recidivism in Broward County. Restorative Justice Restorative justice has the power to build true justice into our system and will be a large part of a Kimok Administration in cases involving victims. Successful programs enable the system to make victims whole while diminishing the negative effects on the future potential of the person charged. In felony cases involving an individual victim, including the following charges, every effort will be made to divert arrestees into a robust restorative justice program. ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ Grand Theft Felony Battery Aggravated Battery Burglary Robbery Each case will be evaluated on an individual basis with the victim’s wishes playing a major role in that decision. An arrestee’s prior record will be considered but will not be disqualifying in making the decision of whether restorative justice is appropriate. A strong emphasis will be placed on diverting juveniles into a restorative justice program for these charges. 1 See generally, Section 5. 8 3. Plea Bargaining Across the United States, plea bargaining is the primary manner in which cases are resolved in the criminal justice system. The same is true in Broward County. This dynamic affords the prosecutor with tremendous power over the ultimate result in any individual case. The current Broward State Attorney’s Office sets a minimum offer for most offenses. Assistant State Attorneys are permitted to make an offer higher than the set-minimum at any time, but if they wish to make an offer below the minimum guideline, supervisor approval must be obtained. For felony offenses, the minimum offer is either the bottom of the guidelines if the person charged scores prison time, or 18 months of probation. Assistants are permitted to offer one withhold of adjudication over the course of the lifetime of the person arrested, but not more. Assistant State Attorneys are not permitted to reduce or dismiss (nolle prosse) a charge without supervisor approval. In close cases where there is evidence the person arrested may be innocent, as long as there is still probable cause to believe that person is guilty, the prevailing philosophy of the current State Attorney is to force a plea or to “let the jury decide.” Defense attorneys are not informed when witness unavailability makes a case impossible to prosecute and Assistant State Attorneys still take pleas in these cases. In a Kimok Administration, plea bargaining will change in the following fundamental ways: • Each Charge Will Contain an Office Maximum Recommended Sentence, Not a Minimum Recommended Sentence: Rather than being given a minimum punishment for which the ASA cannot go below without supervisor approval, each charge will carry a maximum punishment for which the Assistant cannot 9 go over without supervisor approval. The ASA may make a plea offer that is below the guidelines, may reduce a charge, and may nolle prosse a charge at any time in the interest of justice. Only if the ASA believes that the offense warrants a more serious punishment than the Office recommended sentence must the ASA seek supervisor approval. For example, in the current State Attorney’s Office, if a person charged with Robbery scores 48 months in prison at the bottom of his guidelines, ASAs must offer a minimum of 48 months in prison. ASAs may offer anything higher than that without approval of a supervisor. In a Kimok Administration, we will flip that dynamic. The maximum plea offer the ASA will be able make is 48 months prison, and only if the ASA believes prison to be necessary for the safety of the community. If the ASA believes a lesser sentence is appropriate, the charge should be reduced or dismissed, or the person arrested should go to diversion, the ASA may make such an offer. If, due to the facts of the case, the ASA believes a higher sentence is appropriate, the ASA must obtain supervisor approval. If ultimately the person is sentenced to prison, whether the sentence is below or above the bottom of the guidelines, the ASA must write a memo to justify the prison sentence. • All Prison Sentences Must Be Justified in Writing: In a Kimok administration, any time that an ASA makes a plea offer that results in a prison sentence, the ASA must write a memo justifying the prison sentence, and must state on the record the need for the prison sentence. The ASA must also state on the record the projected cost in taxpayer dollars for the person to be sent to prison. • Eliminate the Use of Improper Leverage: Mandatory minimum sentences and the death penalty shall never be used as leverage in negotiating a plea bargain. Neither shall the threat of asking for a higher sentence after trial. 10 • Must Have Reasonable Probability of Conviction: No plea bargain shall be taken on a case in which there is not a reasonable probability of a conviction at trial. The ASA taking the plea must both objectively and subjectively believe beyond a reasonable doubt of the person’s guilt and must have the evidence available to prove it. • Inform Defense of Witness Unavailability: Assistant State Attorneys shall inform defense counsel of any witness unavailability before allowing a plea to go forward. • Collateral Consequences: Collateral consequences such as immigration shall always be considered in making a plea offer. • Don’t Condition Plea on Waiver of Appeal: No plea offer shall be conditioned on a defendant’s waiver of the right to appeal any ruling on any pretrial motion. • Elimination of the Trial Tax: If a plea offer is rejected and the person is convicted at trial, no ASA shall seek a trial tax. The ASA shall recommend the same offer that the Defendant was offered pretrial unless he/she obtains supervisor approval to recommend a higher sentence. Approval shall only be given in cases where facts made known during trial were not known to the ASA at the time the plea offer was made. 11 4. Cash Bail: The Broward Sheriff’s Office spends approximately $250 million each year to operate Broward’s four local jails.2 Many of the people in our jails are there because they cannot afford cash bail.3 This results in thousands of folks being incarcerated every year who are presumed innocent and before they’ve been convicted of anything. Cash bail causes people to lose their jobs, their housing, and sometimes, their kids.4 Even for families that are able to post a bail, many are driven deeper into poverty. Bail forces people to plead guilty, often to crimes they did not commit, simply to get out of jail.5 Those who are held in jail pretrial receive statistically higher sentences than those who have bonded out.6 This is the epitome of two systems of justice – one for folks who can afford their cash bail, and one for those who can’t. In Broward County, bail is generally set in one of two ways. The first is through a standard bond schedule.7 When someone is arrested, if their offense is listed in the standard bond schedule, they are able to bond out with the standard bond almost immediately upon being checked into the Broward County Jail. If the offense for which they’ve been arrested is not listed on the standard bond schedule or if they are unable to post bond that quickly, folks show up to Magistrate court within 24 hours. A judge will then evaluate the factors listed in F.S.A. 903.046, which include the circumstances of the offense charged, the weight of the evidence against the 2 https://www.sheriff.org/Administration/Documents/BudgetBooks/FY%20201819%20Proposed%20Budget%20Book.pdf 3 https://www.floridabulldog.org/2019/05/in-florida-where-reforms-are-slow-to-arrive-cash-bail-remains-the-lawof-the-land/ 4 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/01/business/cash-bail-system-reform.html 5 https://www.mic.com/articles/182519/how-bail-destroys-lives-and-makes-innocent-people-plead-guilty 6 https://craftmediabucket.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/PDFs/LJAF_Report_state-sentencing_FNL.pdf 7 http://www.17th.flcourts.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2019-98-Crim.pdf 12 person, and the person’s ties to the community. The judge is then supposed to set a reasonable bond. Florida law is not favorable on what constitutes a “reasonable bond.” Case law has upheld bail amounts in the hundreds of thousands of dollars even when the person arrested clearly could not afford such an amount.8 The judge also has the option of releasing the person on their own recognizance (ROR) and /or releasing the person to be monitored by pretrial release. People charged with capital offenses or offenses punishable by life (“PBL”) are not entitled to bond or pretrial release if the judge finds that “proof is evident or the presumption is great.”9 This is a higher standard than “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Pursuant to F.S.A. 907.041, “No person charged with a dangerous crime shall be granted nonmonetary pretrial release at a first appearance hearing; however, the court shall retain the discretion to release an accused on electronic monitoring or on recognizance bond if the findings on the record of facts and circumstances warrant such a release.” (emphasis added). Dangerous crimes include murder, sexual battery, burglary, and robbery. If the judge sets a cash bond, the person arrested and their families then have three options. They can post the entire amount with the jail and be released. As long as they show up to court, the amount will be returned at the conclusion of the case, minus any court fines or fees incurred, which are often substantial10. Or, persons arrested can go through a bail bondsman. They pay the bail bondsman a statutorily required 10% of the bond and the bail bondsman posts a surety with the court, allowing the person to be released. At the conclusion of the case, the person arrested 8 See e.g. Mehaffie v. Rutherford, 143 So.3d 132 (Fla. 1st D.C.A. 2014) (upholding a $750,009 bond); State v. Arthur, 390 So.2d 717 (Fla. 1980). 10 The removal of fines and fees from the bond at the conclusion of the case has limited the effectiveness of nonprofit bail projects in Florida, which rely on getting the full 100% of the bonds back. 9 13 does not get his or her 10% back. Finally, if the person is unable to afford either of these options, they will sit in jail until their case is resolved, unless they are able to convince a judge to lower the bail amount. People who sit in jail prior to trial are more likely to plead guilty in order to get out of jail. Jurisdictions around the country that have moved away from cash bail have seen extraordinary results. In Philadelphia, a year after they discontinued cash bond for a majority of offenses, they found recidivism had not increased nor had folks not showing up to court.11 In New Jersey, studies have actually shown a decrease in arrests for nonviolent offenses. 12 Under a Kimok Administration, ASAs will not be permitted to ask for cash bail, absent extraordinary circumstances. For the vast majority of folks charged with non-violent offenses, ASAs will be instructed to request that the person arrested be ROR’d, without any pretrial conditions, and given a court date to return. For those folks that we do have a legitimate concern about being a danger to the community, ASAs will be instructed to request some level of pretrial release. This can be as easy as checking in with a pretrial officer periodically to requiring house arrest and an ankle monitor. Each case would be evaluated on an individual basis to determine the appropriateness of pretrial release. For those very few folks that present an imminent, dangerous threat to the community for which no forms of pretrial release would guarantee the safety of the community, ASAs will be instructed to seek pretrial detention pursuant to F.S.A. 907.041(c)(5). Those arrested would be 11 https://www.inquirer.com/news/philly-district-attorney-larry-krasner-money-bail-criminal-justice-reformincarceration-20190219.html 12 https://www.nj.com/data/2019/11/cops-are-making-fewer-arrests-since-nj-got-rid-of-cash-bail.html 14 afforded a due process hearing in which they could argue and present evidence of mitigating factors against a finding that the person is a danger. Currently, charges such as murder and armed sexual battery are either capital offenses or PBLs and are not entitled to bail. Any elimination of cash bond would have no effect on the ability of these folks to be released. ASAs would however be instructed to evaluate each case on an individual basis to determine the appropriateness of pretrial release. A note on pretrial release and pretrial detention: There has been justifiable criticism in some jurisdictions that have reduced or eliminated cash bond of the over-reliance on pretrial release. In some areas where cash bond has been eliminated, the reliance on pretrial release has grown significantly. Pretrial release imposes restrictions on an individual’s freedom, sometimes very stringent restrictions. While clearly not as restrictive as jail, these restrictions are placed on someone despite them being presumed innocent and not having been found guilty. In a Kimok Administration, we will be keenly aware of this dynamic and only request pretrial release or pretrial detention if deemed absolutely necessary for the protection of the public. We are confident the elimination of cash bail will result in a significant net decrease in the number of folks held in jail pretrial, as well as the number of folks monitored by pretrial release. In conjunction with eliminating cash bail, a Kimok Administration will put measures in place to help folks show up to court, including giving them court dates directly at First Appearance13 and texting and calling them to remind them of their date. When someone misses court, ASAs will be instructed not to request a warrant unless the absence is of a trial date. Even then, if the person subsequently shows for trial, the ASA will be instructed to recommend dismissal of the warrant, absent extenuating circumstances. 13 Court dates are currently mailed, usually several weeks after arrest. 15 5. Ending the War on Drugs: For the past forty years, the War on Drugs has ruined lives, devastated communities, and served as a catalyst for institutional poverty. It has cost our nation billions of dollars and has failed to curb drug use. Law enforcement has used the War on Drugs as justification to militarize police. It leads to stop-and-frisk policing, pretextual vehicle stops, and often-times violent executions of search warrants in families’ homes. Addiction is, and always has been, better treated by experts in the community and not guards behind prison walls. Marijuana In a Kimok Administration, ASAs will be instructed not to file Possession of Marijuana cases in any amount, absent extenuating circumstances. Folks will not be required to complete diversion to have their cases no-infoed. Other Drugs In Florida, simple possession of most drugs other than marijuana are classified as third degree felonies, punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Mr. Kimok will send all simple possession cases other than marijuana to diversion. Law enforcement will be encouraged to bring folks to treatment facilities rather than make arrests. In cases where arrests are made, for a first offense, and prior to the filing of an Information, someone arrested will need to stay drug-free and not be arrested for 6 months, then the case will be no-infoed. For a second offense, and prior to the filing of an Information, someone arrested will need to enter and complete a brief treatment program, 16 then the case will be no-infoed. Any violations of either of these diversion programs will result in the case being filed and transferred to drug court. For any third or subsequent offense, cases will be sent to Drug Court. If the person successfully completes Drug Court, the case shall be dismissed. Because we know there are often relapses with addiction, there shall be no maximum number of times an individual may enter drug court, no matter the person’s criminal history. Possession with Intent and Delivery Cases Possession with Intent or Delivery of Marijuana are currently 3 rd degree felonies, punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Possession with Intent or Delivery of other drugs are currently 2nd degree felonies, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Under the current regime, diversion is not available for these crimes, despite the fact that the racial disparities for these crimes are significant, and that these crimes are often poverty-driven. In a Kimok Administration, a robust diversion program will be available. Most investigations of narcotics delivery offenses prey on the poor. While the distribution of small amounts of drugs happens in every community, these types of prosecutions overwhelmingly target folks from minority communities. Probation and prison do very little to disrupt ongoing drug sales or drug use, but they do have an extraordinary negative impact on the potential for upward economic mobility of the person convicted. A robust diversion program that addresses the systemic causes of why economically depressed people turn to drug sales while also being tough enough to provide a deterrence to future drug-activity is preferable to the status-quo. Most low-income families justifiably do not wish to live in neighborhoods where streetlevel drug sales are prevalent. We as a community must do more to eliminate the systemic causes of poverty-based drug sales, provide meaningful economic alternatives to drug activity, and 17 implement creative ways to keep drugs out of our neighborhoods. Arrest and incarceration is not working and is doing far more harm than good. It’s time to try something different. Trafficking In Florida, trafficking offenses are defined by the weight of the drugs possessed, not by whether there is any evidence of dealing. Trafficking offenses contain minimum mandatory sentences of 3, 7, 15, and 25 years in prison, depending on the weight of the drugs possessed. We believe that any resources spent on curbing drug sales should focus on those distributing large amounts of dangerous drugs such as heroin, methamphetamines, substitute cathinones, and cocaine. People making large sums of money off of the addiction of others need to be stopped and specific, targeted investigations and prosecutions will be necessary to act as a deterrence for these offenses. However, mandatory minimums and unnecessarily long prison sentences neither act as a deterrence nor do they keep our communities safe. Each trafficking arrest will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. When prosecution is necessary, ASAs will be instructed to seek the punishment that provides the greatest deterrence for the least cost to the community. Sometimes, this may require prison, but oftentimes it will not. It does not take a draconian prison sentence to permanently disrupt most trafficking activities. 6. Remaking Juvenile Justice Of all of the challenges of the next State Attorney, the juvenile justice system may be the greatest. Children caught in the system are being harmed far more than they are being helped. While high-profile incidents of abuse have dominated the media, everyday abuse and neglect are 18 commonplace, resulting in unacceptable rates of recidivism and a system that does not reflect our values. The juvenile justice system is also our best opportunity for meaningful reform. When we build a system that treats kids like kids and gives them the meaningful therapy and rehabilitation that they need, we can significantly reduce crime in our communities in the decades to come. Currently, when a child is arrested for a crime in Broward County, one of three things happens immediately: they are released outright, they are released on home detention, or they are held in the Broward Juvenile Detention Center for up to 21 days and then released. Many of the children who receive 21 days secure detention end up ultimately pleading the case to probation or re-offending. Once a child is released the case then proceeds through the system, usually taking several months before being resolved. If a child has never been arrested before and is arrested for a qualifying offense, diversion may be available. Generally, a child cannot receive diversion more than once, and diversion is not available for most felonies. Once a case is resolved (if the child either pleads the case or is found to have committed the offense at trial) the child will either receive probation and be ordered to complete community service hours along with any counseling deemed necessary, or the child is committed to a juvenile facility for a period of anywhere between 3 to 18 months. Pretrial Incarceration We must break our addiction to incarcerating children pretrial. When a child spends even one night in a detention center, their likelihood of graduating from high school drops 19 precipitously.14 A Kimok State Attorney’s Office will no longer request that children be incarcerated prior to trial unless extraordinary circumstances exist that make incarceration unavoidable, such as an inability to find a safe home for a child. We will work with the Department of Juvenile Justice to ensure that the children who are incarcerated there are treated more humanely and will provide immediate, robust rehabilitation services. We will immediately work with community providers to provide safe places for the children and motion the court for their release as soon as possible. This will require us to work diligently within our communities to provide safe spaces outside of the detention facility for children dealing with trauma. 90% of children who spend time in a detention center in the United States have suffered a significant trauma at some time in their lives.15 Generally, spending time in a detention facility only adds to that trauma and increases the likelihood of recidivism. For children that may pose a danger to themselves or others, we must establish community spaces that do not rely on cells to keep the children safe. It will take an extraordinary amount of cooperation with community stakeholders and it won’t happen overnight. But by the end of our first term, we seek to have no children incarcerated pretrial. Diversion For children, diversion will be the rule, not the exception. In the vast majority of cases, rehabilitation programs can be provided to the child through diversion rather than through prosecution. Diversion has the added benefits of keeping convictions off of a child’s record. There will be no maximum number of times a child may be permitted to enter into a diversion program. 14 15 https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/youth2019.html Id. 20 The Promise Program is one of several diversion programs already in place and was specifically designed to address misbehavior in schools. 16 At one point in time, Florida led the nation in the school to prison pipeline and Broward County was among the leaders in arresting children out of schools.17 The program covers thirteen very low-level offenses such as Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Alcohol, and Theft. We support the continued implementation of the Promise Program. However, for children, diversion should not be limited to low-level misdemeanor offenses. Robust diversion programs create opportunities for real rehabilitation that is simply not possible once the child officially enters the juvenile system. As State Attorney, we will seek to expand not just the Promise Program, but also other existing diversion programs, and build new ones to address offenses not currently found within the diversion spectrum. Restorative justice in particular offers profound opportunities for kids charged with crimes involving victims. When victims are harmed by kids, the current system rarely, if ever, provides any meaningful healing to either of them. For kids charged with offenses such as Grand Theft, Burglary, and Robbery, we will build and implement restorative justice programs that both rehabilitate the child and help to make victims whole. Direct-File Florida leads the nation in charging kids as adults for felonies.18 Most of that is because of our system of direct-file, which allows prosecutors to unilaterally make the decision to charge 16 https://www.browardschools.com/cms/lib/FL01803656/Centricity/Domain/6947/promiseflyer.pdf https://www.colorlines.com/articles/floridas-school-prison-pipeline-largest-nation 18 https://www.floridaphoenix.com/2019/03/15/florida-sends-too-many-juveniles-to-adult-prisons-its-no-placefor-a-child-advocates-say/ 17 21 a child as an adult. When a child is direct-filed, the law requires that the child be transferred from a juvenile facility to an adult jail. Despite white and black children committing crimes at generally the same rates, black children are disproportionately direct-filed, adding to the system’s harmful legacy of racial disparities.19 The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that an adolescent’s brain does not stop developing until his or her mid-20s.20 The person that a child is at 16 is dramatically different than who she is at 26 or 36. And yet, when we charge a child as an adult, it has a devastating impact on who that child will become. When a child commits a serious felony that has caused significant harm to the community, every effort must be made to rehabilitate that child within the juvenile system. Direct-file is often abused. Prosecutors use the threat of direct-file to force children to plead guilty in juvenile court. Children who may be innocent are forced to make impossible decisions. In a Kimok Administration, we will never direct-file a child. Should a circumstance ever arrive in which we believe we have no choice but to charge a child as an adult for the long-term safety of the public, the appropriate venue to do that is through a Grand Jury Indictment. Mr. Kimok will form a juvenile justice panel to review any case in which it may be appropriate to charge the child as an adult. The panel will examine the child’s home life, mental health, schooling, and any other factors that may guide it in determining whether charging a child as an adult is appropriate. If, and only if, that panel recommends it, will the case be brought before the grand jury. This affords the child the opportunity to present mitigating evidence and allows for a due process hearing that is not currently available. Mr. Kimok does not anticipate needing to seek an Indictment against a child more than a couple of times per year, if at all. 19 20 https://www.aclufl.org/en/direct-file-unjust-process-unjust-results Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010) 22 7. Fines and Fees and Other Collateral Consequences: The collateral consequences associated with a criminal conviction often outweigh the punishment for the crime itself. Fines and fees can reach into the thousands of dollars and follow folks around for decades. The ability to get a job, a loan, housing, public assistance, a driver’s license, or a professional license can all be significantly limited. As Michelle Alexander has examined in “The New Jim Crowe,” these collateral consequences have built a permanent caste system in the United States. Folks with felony convictions are relegated to a second-class status. As State Attorney, we’ll do everything in our power to limit the harmful effects of collateral consequences. We won’t ask for any unnecessary fines and fees and we won’t make fines or fees a condition of probation. We will lobby both the county commission and the state legislature to remove state-mandated collateral consequences and provide incentives for private businesses to do the same. We will also do everything in our power to help returning citizens regain their right to vote. Amendment 4 passed in 2016 with over 65% support from Floridians. These Floridians believed that once a person has finished their sentence, they should be able to vote again. That Amendment has been hampered by subsequent legislation requiring returning citizens to pay off all fines, fees, and restitution before regaining their right to vote. The legislation did not however limit a judge’s ability to waive such fines and fees for the purposes of voting. We will help identify all returning citizens in our county and fully support their efforts to waive any outstanding financial obligations, excluding restitution, in order to regain their rights to vote.21 21 For those with outstanding restitution, we will continue to seek to collect it on behalf of victims, but nevertheless seek to waive the requirement for voting purposes only. 23 8. Sentencing Reform We must dramatically rethink the way we sentence people in our community. For decades, the primary purpose of sentencing has been punishment in Florida.22 Thinking about punishment as being the primary purpose of sentencing has left us economically broke, with immorally long prison sentences and has not made us any safer. Mr. Kimok believes that the primary justification for sentencing must be deterrence and rehabilitation – not punishment. The way we sentence people needs to be dramatically altered. Plea Bargaining The plea bargaining process is the first place to start. For decades, prosecutors have sought to maximize whatever sentence they could during plea negotiations. Mr. Kimok will dramatically alter the way plea negotiations are handled and he will never seek a trial tax. (See Section 3, “Plea Bargaining” for more). Probation Most people who are convicted of a felony are sentenced to probation. Probation may be appropriate for some folks as an alternative to prison, but our system overuses it and the length of probation sentences are far too long. Long probation sentences are not only wasteful, they often inhibit the probationer’s ability to move on with their lives. Through a cycle of probation, technical 22 It’s actually codified in state law here, F.S.A. 921.002(1)(b). 24 violations, incarceration, then probation again, long probation sentences keep those in our justice system trapped in a cycle that often does not end until probation is revoked. Because as a matter of course judges will often terminate an individual’s probation once they reach the half way point, Mr. Kimok will instruct his assistants that, in cases where probation may be necessary, they should not seek more than 2 years of probation without supervisor approval. Probation Violations In 2017-18, over 18,000 people were sent to Florida prisons because of a technical probation violation – meaning they did not commit a new felony, but rather broke some rule of probation.23 And because of the way probation violations are scored under Florida’s Criminal Punishment Code scoresheet, someone who is sent to prison on a technical probation violation will often receive a longer sentence than if they’d just gone to prison in the first place. Mr. Kimok does not believe that people should go to prison for committing technical probation violations. He will instruct his assistants that they are not to seek prison for technical probation violations without supervisor approval. This simple change in policy will cause a significant decrease in Broward’s rate of new prison admissions. 23 http://www.oppaga.state.fl.us/MonitorDocs/Reports/pdf/1901rpt.pdf 25 Restorative Justice Over Prison We know that we cannot dismantle mass incarceration by focusing on non-violent crimes alone. 85% of Florida’s prison population is comprised of non-drug offenses.24 Across the United States, 55% of all state prisoners have been sentenced for crimes legally considered to be violent.25 To truly dismantle mass incarceration, we must have a plan that re-envisions justice for violent offenses in ways that help victims heal and make communities safer. Burglaries and “Violent Personal Offenses” cases are the top two offenses in Florida for new prison admissions. 26 In Broward County, anyone charged with either type of these offenses are not eligible for diversion. A 2016 poll by the Alliance for Safety and Justice found that nearly 70% of victims prefer that people who hurt them get alternatives to prison like community supervision and treatment.27 Mr. Kimok believes we must help victims heal and help make them safer. Prison, by and large, accomplishes neither of these goals. In a Kimok Administration, folks arrested for these charges will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine the appropriateness of a restorative justice program. This determination will be guided by a philosophy that puts the healing of victims and the long-term safety of the community first. 24 http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/annual/1718/FDC_AR2017-18.pdf https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p17.pdf 26 http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/annual/1718/FDC_AR2017-18.pdf 27 https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2020/01/22/end-mass-incarceration-u-s-needs-prisonalternatives-violent-crimes/4466214002/ 25 26 Mandatory Minimums Mandatory minimums have harmed families and communities. They are economically wasteful, have not resulted in any decrease in sentencing disparities, and are disproportionately applied to minorities and the poor. In Broward County, ASAs have the authority to seek mandatory minimum sentences where they see fit. By and large, mandatory minimum sentences are used as plea bargaining leverage points. The State announces it will seek a mandatory minimum sentence, then offer the person charged a lesser, but still substantial, prison sentence. It is generally only folks who go to trial and lose who receive mandatory minimum sentences. In a Kimok Administration, no Assistant State Attorney will be permitted to seek a mandatory minimum without the approval of Mr. Kimok himself. Mr. Kimok will only grant such a request under extraordinary circumstances.28 Life Without Parole The United States leads the world in Life Without Parole sentences. 29 Florida abolished its parole system in 1994, so every life sentence in Florida is life without parole. 14% of Florida’s 95,000 inmates are currently serving a life without parole sentence. 30 For most offenses, a life without parole sentence is barbaric, inhumane, costly, and unnecessary to protect the public. Mr. Kimok will seek to significantly decrease life without 28 In Florida, all Murder in the First Degree charges carry a mandatory life sentence. In a Kimok Administration, Mr. Kimok himself will need to approve any request for a Murder 1 Indictment. 29 We have more than double the number of LWOP sentences than the next country, India. https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/PRI_Life-Imprisonment-Briefing.pdf 30 http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/annual/1718/FDC_AR2017-18.pdf 27 parole sentences in Broward County. He will also lobby the Legislature to reinstate parole and expand meaningful compassionate release of those serving such sentences. Sentence Review As of June 2019, elderly inmates comprised 25% of Florida’s prison population.31 Continuing to incarcerate many of these folks, sometimes decades after their crimes, is costly, inhumane, and does not keep us safe. Every effort should be made to release people serving draconian sentences who no longer pose a threat to the community. Under Florida law, there are very few avenues for a State Attorney or judge to reduce a legal sentence. Legal time limits constrain an inmate’s ability to reduce a legal but unjust sentence. Nevertheless, Mr. Kimok will create a Sentence Review Unit, to look back at old sentences and investigate potential ways to reduce them. He will lobby the Legislature to retroactively eliminate draconian mandatory minimum sentences and provide new sentencing hearings for those sentenced under such laws. 9. Conviction Integrity In 2019, after 42 years in office and shortly after Mr. Kimok’s announcement that he would run for State Attorney, the current State Attorney announced the creation of a Conviction Integrity Unit. The “unit” currently has one attorney – a former prosecutor and assistant attorney general who has never been a criminal defense lawyer. The unit has developed a board to assist the attorney with investigating potentially wrongful convictions. 31 http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/mortality/index.html 28 In a Kimok Administration, the Conviction Integrity Unit will be a fully funded, independent wing of the State Attorney’s Office. It will be staffed by multiple attorneys, at least some of whom are former defense lawyers. The unit will have its own investigators. It will also be responsible for developing best practices and continually teaching ASAs how to avoid wrongful convictions. 10. Immigration: Immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are a particularly vulnerable population in the criminal legal system. Undocumented immigrants are more likely to be victims of crime and more likely not to call police when they become victims. Immigrants also regularly receive harsher sentences than citizens since a conviction will often lead to deportation. Immigrants are also susceptible to being victims of misconduct by ICE. Mr. Kimok will create a unit specifically designed to protect immigrants. The unit will assist victims who are immigrants in obtaining U-Visas to remain in the country. The unit will advise assistants on the collateral consequences of a conviction on an immigrant. ASAs will be required to consider such collateral consequences in making charging decisions, plea bargaining, and making sentencing recommendations. And if any ICE agent breaks the law in their contact with any immigrants, for example by entering a home unlawfully, the Immigration Unit will be tasked with charging and prosecuting them. 11. Gun Violence Like many communities across the country, gun violence has hit Broward County particularly hard. While the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas has dominated the public 29 discourse, gun violence impacts every community in our county. Though we cannot arrest and prosecute our way out of our gun violence problem, Broward County needs a leader who will work to take guns off of our streets, make it harder for people who pose a danger to obtain a firearm, and use the criminal justice system to take guns away from those who pose a danger to us. Mr. Kimok fully supports the Red Flag Laws passed in the wake of Parkland that allow law enforcement to remove guns from people adjudicated to be a danger to themselves or others. Mr. Kimok will also work with the Legislature to go much further and push for comprehensive background checks, a ban on assault weapons, and the closure of gun-show loopholes. Mandatory minimum sentences do not help reduce gun violence and will not be a part of Mr. Kimok’s gun plan. Currently, under Florida’s 10 /20 / Life statute, mere possession of a firearm by a convicted felon carries a three-year minimum mandatory sentence. If an individual uses a gun during a crime, there is a 10, 20, 25, or Life minimum mandatory, depending on the manner in which the gun is used. These mandatory minimums have resulted in draconian prison sentences, do not act as a deterrence, have not reduced gun violence, and have not made our community any safer. Mr. Kimok will work to build a “Gun Court” – a specialized court designed to address gun crimes and reduce overall gun violence. ASAs in this gun court will have the discretion to send some possession cases to diversion, to reduce charges, and to waive minimum mandatory sentences. Where there are victims, restorative justice programs will be in place to help them heal while reducing the long-term harms to the community of incarceration. 30 12. Homicides The prosecution of homicide cases must be a top priority for the next administration. The current homicide unit is overburdened with too many cases, not enough prosecutors, and high turnover among the ASAs. This has led to a number of particularly negative outcomes. There is a systemic failure in the homicide unit for ASAs to meet their discovery obligations. Cases often take years – in some instances over a decade – before a trial begins. Recent years have seen a rash of Not Guilty verdicts, largely as a result of a combination of overzealous filing decisions and overburdened ASAs. In order for ASAs in the homicide unit to both be effective and meet their constitutional obligations, we must reduce their caseloads. Eliminate Felony Murder 1 Under the Felony Murder Rule, if a person is killed during the perpetration of a felony, all persons who participated in the underlying felony can be charged with Felony Murder 1. This is true even if the individual did not actually kill anyone, plan to kill anyone, or intend to kill anyone. The sentence is a mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. Under laws passed in recent years, the State now has the discretion to charge Murder 1 in cases where someone has overdosed and died against the person who delivered the decedent the drugs. These new laws are particularly troublesome, especially given that people often get their drugs from friends or loved-ones. They also have a chilling effect on calling law enforcement; if a loved-one is overdosing, the fear of being charged with their murder can dissuade someone from calling for help. 31 In a Kimok Administration, absent extenuating circumstances, we will only charge people with Murder in the First Degree if they premeditated the death of the victim. Even then, each case will be evaluated on an individual basis to determine whether a Murder 1 charge is appropriate. Given that Murder 1 carries a mandatory life sentence, only those very few cases in which the murder was particularly heinous, and a LWOP sentence is necessary for the long-term protection of the public, will a Murder 1 charge be sought. Where someone is merely a participant in an underlying felony in which someone dies, Felony Murder 1 will not be sought, absent extenuating circumstances. This policy change will have substantial effect on reducing the number of caseloads currently handled by the homicide unit. 13. Sexually Based Offenses Broward County is one of the top locations for new human trafficking cases in the United States. Every effort must be made to investigate, prosecute, and convict people who engage in the human trafficking of people – especially minors. Florida also has some of the most draconian sex offender laws in the United States. Folks who have been labeled a sex offender can find almost nowhere to live in Broward County that is not within 1000 feet of a school, church, or park, rendering many of these people homeless.32 Public registries prevent many folks who have served their time from getting a job. While these collateral consequences may be necessary for the protection of the public for a very small number of people, the current Broward State Attorney’s Office uses them as a sword against everyone 32 https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article237545129.html 32 charged with such an offense, and little discretion is used to waive such requirements. Mr. Kimok will seek sexual offender designations sparingly and only in the most egregious of circumstances. We must also do a better job of caring for victims. While there are some county-programs to help victims after a sexual battery, the State Attorney’s Office has historically treated victims as merely a means to obtaining a conviction. There are very limited therapy options and no restorative justice options available for victims at this time. Mr. Kimok will ensure that every victim’s voice is heard, that they are cared for, and that they are provided the robust therapy they need. 14. Community Engagement The State Attorney’s Office does not belong to any one elected official or to the lawyers and staff who run the office. It belongs to the people of Broward County and must be run by the people. The Broward County community is filled with experts knowledgeable about how we can best keep Broward residents safe. Mr. Kimok believes these experts should be given real power to direct the State Attorney’s Office into the future. Once elected, Mr. Kimok will build a Community Engagement Team. The Team will be comprised of experts living and working in Broward County who specialize in a wide-range of topics necessary to keeping Broward residents safe. Experts in the field of addiction, trauma, gun violence, sexual violence, victim’s rights, faith, race, mental health, environmental justice, sexual orientation, poverty, affordable housing, organizing, and communications, to name a few, will constitute the Team. The Team will be responsible for bringing the collective voices of the 33 community into the State Attorney’s Office. This Team will not just act in an advisory role but rather have real power in the policy decisions made by the State Attorney’s Office. 15. End Racial Disparities Like most communities around the country, Broward County has been plagued by racial disparities in its criminal legal system. At every stage – from the initial encounter with police, to arrest, to charge, to conviction, to sentence – people of color are overrepresented and punished more harshly than whites. Even if we end mass incarceration, if we continue to have racial disparities in our system we will have failed. To end these disparities, it will take an extraordinary, coordinated effort. Mr. Kimok believes in a three-pronged approach that 1) is transparent and proactively uses data, 2) dismantles the main drivers of racial disparities, and 3) properly trains ASAs to prevent implicit biases embedded in the system. Proactive Use of Data and Transparency The current State Attorney’s Office does not effectively collect and use data. Unless outside organizations or the media file Freedom of Information Requests, the State Attorney’s Office has failed to recognize the extent to which people of color are overrepresented in the system. As State Attorney, Mr. Kimok will implement a vast data-collection program that monitors the following: charging decisions, pretrial detention requests, plea offers, and sentencing recommendations. Mr. Kimok will invite outside experts from universities and non-profits to not only monitor our own data collection, but to collect data of their own, and then advise the Office on best34 practices. This approach has worked particularly well in other cities, where outside organizations were able to help elected prosecutors eliminate specific racial disparities. Importantly, this data will be transparent. The Office will release all of its data on a regular basis so the community can hold the Office accountable for its progress on ending racial disparities. Dismantling the Drivers of Racial Disparities Decades of data have shown us the many causes of racial disparities. Ending cash bail, direct-file, stop-and-frisk, pretextual vehicle stops, and drug possession prosecutions will have a significant impact on eliminating racial disparities. Especially with regards to the War on Drugs, we must work with law enforcement to end the selective enforcement of drug cases in minority communities. Since someone’s prior record is often the result of race-based decision-making that occurred in the past, Mr. Kimok will no longer use prior-records to dictate decisions such as plea offers, pretrial detention, or sentencing recommendations. Increased Training The presence of implicit bias prohibits the criminal legal system from effectuating any real justice. As State Attorney, Mr. Kimok will mandate meaningful, continuous, implicit bias training that helps ASAs and staff reflect on the legacy of slavery, lynching, and Jim Crowe and how that history has evolved into the criminal legal system of today. 35 16. Reshaping Office Culture Mr. Kimok is committed to building a new culture at the State Attorney’s Office – one that reflects a commitment to civil rights, equal justice, and safety. The days of celebrating convictions and long sentences will be over. Rather, ASAs will be acknowledged and rewarded for their compassion, their creativity, and their handling of cases in ways that keeps more folks out of prison and provides greater protection to the public. Less Emphasis on Convictions, More on Justice Currently, the State Attorney’s Office does everything in its power to maximize convictions. ASAs are prohibited from pleaing cases to lesser charges or to dismissing charges without supervisor approval. Assistants who dismiss cases or reduce charges without supervisor approval are subject to discipline. The Office is significantly more likely to offer a reduced sentence than it is to offer a reduced charge. This will change in a Kimok Administration. Assistants will have the authority to both reduce charges and dismiss charges and will be encouraged to do so in the interests of justice. In cases with victims, ASAs will be encouraged to develop creative restorative justice campaigns that help make victims whole. End the “Let the Jury Decide” Philosophy Trials are the most important currency to an ASA in the current regime. ASAs are encouraged to take cases to trial and their promotion within the office is often dictated by how 36 many trials they conduct. This has created a culture of taking many cases to trial in which reasonable doubt pervades. The current Office does not believe that an ASA must be personally convinced of someone’s guilt before taking the case to trial. Rather, there must simply be probable cause. If an ASA has a doubt about someone’s guilt, they are instructed to “let the jury decide.” This philosophy is rife with injustice. It breeds wrongful convictions. It forces innocent people, fearful of a trial tax, to plead guilty. And it is anathema to a fundamental tenet of our justice system – that it is, as William Blackstone said – better to let ten guilty people go free than to convict one innocent person. This philosophy will be gone in a Kimok Administration. ASAs will only be permitted to plead out cases or take cases to trial in which they are personally confident of the individual’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Build an Office that Reflects the Community and Includes Returning Citizens Mr. Kimok seeks to transform the State Attorney’s Office into the premier landing spot for young law school graduates who want to practice civil rights law. We will actively recruit the best and brightest law graduates from around the country who are not only aligned with our mission but reflect the incredible diversity we have in Broward County. Mr. Kimok is further committed to filling the Office with returning citizens, both at attorney and staff positions. Given the unique perspectives of returning citizens on the harms caused by our criminal legal system, making them an integral part of the State Attorney’s Office will not only increase justice for all returning citizens, but also increase justice for the entire 37 community. Returning citizens can make any business or organization better and nowhere is that more true than in the State Attorney’s Office. 17. Preventing Police Brutality and Holding Illegal Behavior Accountable When police officers break the law, the entire community suffers. It dramatically harms the community’s trust in the thousands of good law enforcement officers working to keep us safe and it undermines the rule of law. Any plan to rebuild trust between police and the community must include a robust plan to hold police officers who break the law accountable. The Broward State Attorney’s Office has not successfully prosecuted an on-the-job shooting in decades. A plan to prevent police brutality must go significantly farther than simply proposing new ways to prosecute police officers who break the law. We must address the root causes of police brutality if we are truly going to prevent it. A. End the Prosecution of Stop-and-Frisk Cases Stop-and-frisk is in and of itself legalized police violence against citizens. It allows police to stop and put their hands on law-abiding citizens. Less than 10% of stop-and-frisk seizures result in finding any contraband and the practice has been proven to be racially motivated. The practice is one of the leading causes of negative encounters with police. In many cases, police escalate the amount of violence inherent in stop-and-frisk and have caused great bodily harm or death. Stop-and-frisk is all harm with little to no benefit. Arresting and prosecuting folks who possess drugs found as a result of stop-and-frisk is a harm to the community itself. As State Attorney, Mr. Kimok will not prosecute cases derived from stop-and-frisk. 38 B. Insist on Body Cameras Most instances of police brutality are never investigated and never prosecuted because the victim is the person who is charged. For decades, police have beaten citizens then turned around and charged those very citizens with battery or assault or resisting. Because of the charge, the citizen is then realistically prevented from filing any formal complaint against the officer who abused him. This practice has seen a significant decline with police agencies who use body cameras. The high-profile case of Delucca Rolle is a perfect example. Delucca, a teenage boy who was pepper-sprayed and beaten by Broward Sheriff’s Deputies outside his high school in Tamarac, was originally charged by police with resisting them. Those charges were dropped days later after cell phone video and body cameras revealed that it was the police who had beaten Delucca, not the other way around. While BSO and Fort Lauderdale PD have instituted a body camera program, many police agencies in Broward still do not require their officers to wear body cameras. As a result, these agencies are able to continue to beat citizens then charge the citizens with crimes with impunity. As State Attorney, Mr. Kimok will insist that every law enforcement agency in Broward County will utilize body cameras. Mr. Kimok will not prosecute any case in which police allege violence against them33 unless the officer is wearing a body camera that can prove the allegation. The days of police using the State Attorney’s Office to cover up their own violent behavior will be over. 33 For example, Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer, Resisting with Violence, Assault, and Resisting without Violence. 39 C. Refuse to Seek or Accept Contributions or Endorsements from Law Enforcement Many elected prosecutors seek and receive campaign contributions and endorsements from police unions. Such endorsements create a real conflict-of-interest in the minds of the community by begging the question: how can we trust an elected prosecutor to fully prosecute police after taking their endorsement, and in some instances, money? During this campaign, Mr. Kimok has declined invitations to meet with police-unions seeking to give out endorsements and will not accept any endorsements. His opponents have sought-out such endorsements. While such endorsements may be beneficial to candidates running for office, they interfere with the actual administration of justice once in office. D. Eliminate the Reliance on Internal Affairs Divisions Most citizens have very little trust in the Internal Affairs Divisions of local law enforcement agencies. IA divisions are viewed by many in the community as having an inherent conflict of interest that prevents police officers from fairly investigating or charging their fellowofficers. When an IA division decides not to go forward with an accusation, the State Attorney’s Office never even sees the claim. As State Attorney, Mr. Kimok will built an accessible, robust, investigatory unit solely responsible for investigating claims of police misconduct. It will act as an alternative to Internal Affairs divisions and vigorously investigate misconduct claims. Citizens will then have the option of bringing complaints to the IA division or directly to the State Attorney’s Office or both. The State Attorney’s Office investigation will be completely independent from the IA division and will file charges where appropriate. 40 E. Utilize an Independent Prosecutor Prosecuting police is rife with conflict-of-interest challenges. Officers may be witnesses on other pending cases. Many officers have significant, meaningful relationships with employees at the State Attorney’s Office. Addressing these conflicts-of-interest while keeping local prosecutors responsible for deterring illegal police behavior must be a priority. Mr. Kimok also believes that, in many cases, it is more appropriate to hire an independent prosecutor to investigate, make a filing decision, and then prosecute cases of police misconduct. The independent prosecutor will ideally be a former public defender or civil rights lawyer with a history of challenging police misconduct. The independent prosecutor will be given the full force and resources of the State Attorney’s Office while remaining entirely independent of any conflictsof-interest. F. End Specialized Use of Grand Juries The percentage of police cases taken to the Grand Jury far exceeds those of ordinary citizens. This extra layer of due process gives multiple decision-makers the ability not to pursue a case -- protections not usually available to the general public. In too many instances around the country and here in Broward, prosecutors have taken police-involved shootings to grand juries that return a No-Bill. Because these proceedings are secret, the community never learns the extent to which the prosecutor actually sought an Indictment. Mr. Kimok will end the practice of taking police-involved cases to a grand jury where similar allegations, if committed by civilians, would not be taken to a grand jury. Mr. Kimok believes we must afford as much due process to everyone charged with a crime in which criminal prosecution is a possibility and believes that the Grand Jury should be 41 dramatically expanded to handle cases beyond just the high-profile and police-involved cases it currently investigates. But, if an allegation is made against anyone, the fact that the person is a police officer will not longer be a factor in determining whether the case should be heard by a Grand Jury. G. Re-evaluate and Standardize Use of Force Guidelines, And Stop Allowing Them to Be Defenses to Crimes Law enforcement use-of-force guidelines allow police to engage in behavior that would be illegal if done by members of the general public. They encourage the use of force that far exceeds what is necessary for lawful self-defense and lead to the escalation of police encounters, not de-escalation. When police are accused of brutality, they often resort to the use-of-force guidelines as a defense. As State Attorney, Mr. Kimok will push for a complete revamping of use-of-force guidelines to promote de-escalation and safety. He will seek to standardize the use-of-force guidelines across jurisdictions. Mr. Kimok will no longer accept adherence to use-of-force guidelines as a defense to police brutality. If behavior that were committed by a civilian is deemed to violate that law, that same behavior when committed by a police officer will also be charged. 18. The Death Penalty The death penalty is a medieval, barbaric institution. It does not deter violent crime and is more costly than a life without parole sentence. It disproportionately targets people of color, the poor, and the mentally ill. The death penalty fails to provide any meaningful closure to victims. 42 The death penalty is dying. Less than 3% of counties across the United States still regularly impose death sentences. 34 Broward County is one of those counties. This is despite the fact that Florida leads the nation in death row exonerations at 29 – with many of those coming from right here in Broward County. The State has executed 99 people since 1976, meaning for every 4 people executed, more than 1 person has been exonerated, an extraordinary rate of error. The question, as Bryan Stevenson says, is not whether someone deserves to die. The question is whether we deserve to kill. Our police are not perfect. Our prosecutors are not perfect. Our government is not perfect. We as human beings are not perfect. It is time for the death penalty to come to an end. 19. Continuous Learning and Growing While some positive advances have been made through the growth of specialty courts and diversionary programs, the basic model of prosecution has remained largely the same over the past several decades. That model – determination of probable cause, arrest, filing decision, prosecution, and punishment – has proven to be ineffective in keeping us safe. New models for prosecution are cropping up all over the country. At their core, these models reflect a determination to use the prosecutor’s office to dismantle mass incarceration to keep all our communities safe. They recognize that diversion and rehabilitation are generally better suited for this purpose. We have seen groundbreaking new programs evolve to better treat addiction and mental health. We have seen specialty courts reduce gun violence and we’ve seen how ending cash bail can reduce arrests for low-level crimes. 34 https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-death-penalty-becomes-unusual/390867/ 43 Our criminal legal system has remained stagnant for far too long. Beginning immediately upon taking office, the Broward State Attorney’s Office will be committed to constantly learning new ways to make our communities safer and keep more folks out of the clutches of the system. We will not be satisfied with advances we make early on, but rather we will continue to study, continue to experiment, and continue to implement new ways to dismantle mass incarceration. We will invite academics and practitioners from around the world to offer new research and new ideas. From our first day to our last, we will constantly be committed to innovating new methods of crime prevention to achieve our goal of one day living in a community where violence is no longer a threat and prisons are no longer needed to obtain public safety. 44