Taking Bold Stances on Criminal Justice Reform to Make Change

Systemic racism plagues our criminal justice system, and Scott has spent his career fighting to change it. He authored California’s laws ending mandatory minimum drug sentences for nonviolent crimes and eliminating the most overused sentence enhancement — reforms that have kept thousands of people out of prison without compromising public safety. He’s also fought to stop the wrongful convictions that devastate innocent lives, passing laws to strengthen eyewitness identification standards and make it easier for the wrongfully convicted to prove their innocence. And he has consistently supported reforms to reduce police use of lethal force.

Mass incarceration has failed. Locking more people up for longer hasn’t made our communities safer, but it has torn families apart, entrenched poverty, and perpetuated inequality. Public safety, fundamentally, is about consistent accountability, not perpetually extending sentences. In addition to accountability, public safety must include prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.

In Congress, Scott will work to:

• Reform discriminatory federal sentencing guidelines, including harsh mandatory minimums, that have fueled mass incarceration for decades without making communities safer.
• Invest in reentry: housing, job training, and healthcare for people coming out of prison because a real second chance requires real support.
• Increase federal investment in violence interruption programs that stop crime before it happens.
• Reform federal sentencing laws that criminalize addiction rather than treating it, investing in recovery programs that keep people out of the cycle of incarceration.

Scott's Past Legislation

• SB 73 (2021): Repeals the most common mandatory minimum jail/prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenses and gives judges more discretion to order probation and other alternatives to incarceration.

• SB 136 (2019): Repeals a commonly used one-year sentence enhancement that is added to each prior prison or felony jail term that an individual has served. The enhancement frequently turned nonviolent offenses into lengthy state prison terms.

• SB 97 (2023): Streamlines the process for the wrongfully convicted to demonstrate their innocence and have their convictions overturned.

• SB 73 (2021): Repeals the most common mandatory minimum jail/prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenses and gives judges more discretion to order probation and other alternatives to incarceration.