The Gary Johnson criminal justice plan is to get the government out of people’s business and keep people out of prison cells in the process.

Waging war on the “War on Drugs”

Johnson thinks one of the main reasons so many people are incarcerated in the United States is the criminalization of drugs. About 14 percent of prisoners are held within the federal system, and almost half of those have a drug charge. Of the remaining 86 percent in state prisons, about 17 percent committed non-violent drug offenses.

While he’s expressed personal support for legalizing marijuana and is an unabashed smoker of the herb himself (though he’s vowed to abstain during his presidential run and potential presidency), he is now saying that it should be re-scheduled from a class 1 substance to a lower level, and that states will decide whether or not to legalize.

The rescheduling would both ease tension between states that have legalized pot for medical and recreational use, and it would open marijuana up to research and development.

Johnson has spoken in support of replacing criminal charges for drug use with rehabilitation and harm reduction programs (like needle exchanges), but his campaign site says that, as president, he wouldn’t work to legalize other drugs besides marijuana. We might expect to see a push for the decriminalization of other drugs, though, under a Johnson presidency.

Racism and policing

In a CNN town hall in August, Johnson credited Black Lives Matter with waking him up to the issue of institutionalized racism in the criminal justice system.

"He has expressed support for the movement, though he hasn’t developed a comprehensive plan for mending what he sees as the problem."

He has expressed support for the movement, though he hasn’t developed a comprehensive plan for mending what he sees as the problem. But during a Fusion forum in mid-August, his VP pick Bill Weld said that they plan to look to states that have “good statistics” regarding policing, and that police departments should model themselves after those.

Weld also said that a Johnson ticket would work to train judges to more effectively prosecute officers who break the law.

Sentencing

Johnson doesn’t believe in mandatory minimum sentencing. In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed into law a bill that set mandatory minimums for people convicted of certain crimes back. Johnson thinks that judges should have more discretion when determining how long sentences should be for each case.

As for the death penalty, Johnson is against it. That wasn’t always the case, but he explained in his 2012 book “Seven Principles of Good Government” why he now opposes it:

I changed my mind because I recognized that the risks and costs associated with the death penalty are too high. … Killing one innocent person who was wrongly accused is not worth executing 99 guilty people. DNA evidence and judicial appeals have shown many people are mistakenly convicted.

Keep the private prisons

As governor of New Mexico, Johnson oversaw the development of two private prisons in an effort to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

According to Johnson, there are times when the private sector runs prisons better than the public sector, as he says was the case in New Mexico. He also thinks public prisons are just as likely to drive up incarceration rated, noting that a public prison union was a vocal opponent of marijuana legalization in California as an example.

His defense of private prisons comes at a time when the Department of Justice has decided to eventually stop using private prisons after a couple of investigations found security and oversight issues in such facilities.

Takeaway

Johnson wants to significantly change the way drug use is treated in this country and to reform sentencing laws to reduce the number of people in prison; he also wants to take steps to identify and eliminate racial bias in policing and sentencing.

And in typical Libertarian fashion, he’s perfectly comfortable with letting the private sector operate the prisons in which a smaller number of people would be incarcerated on Johnson’s watch.

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