2020 Conventions: on Crime
Donald Trump:
FactCheck: Order on statues merely enforces existing law
Trump said that when demonstrators began tearing down statues and monuments, "I signed an order immediately. Ten years in prison."Trump's actions simply directed the attorney general to enforce already-existing laws. The executive order doesn't
create new laws or possible prison sentences. Trump issued the order that, among other things, directed the attorney general to "prioritize" certain cases of vandalism in accordance with "applicable law." The law has been around since 1964.
Source: CNN Fact-Check on 2020 Republican Convention speech
Aug 28, 2020
Donald Trump:
Stand with law enforcement; never allow mob rule
Make no mistake, if you give power to Joe Biden, the radical left will Defund Police Departments all across America. They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. They will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland,
Oregon. No one will be safe in Biden's America. My administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement. Every day, police officers risk their lives to keep us safe, and every year, many sacrifice their lives in the line of duty.
What we can never have in America -- and must never allow -- is MOB RULE. We must always have law and order. All federal crimes are being investigated, prosecuted, and punished to the fullest extent of the law. When the anarchists started ripping
down our statues and monuments, I signed an order, ten years in prison, and it all stopped. We will hire MORE police, increase penalties for assaults on law enforcement, and surge federal prosecutors into high-crime communities.
Source: Speech at 2020 Republican National Convention
Aug 28, 2020
Kristi Noem:
FactCheck: No, BLM protests are mostly peaceful
Noem accused Democrats--and only Democrats--of running cities that have been taken over by "violent mobs" [by Black Lives Matter protestors].Protests have taken place in at least 450 cities. They include large ones in Miami, whose mayor is a
registered Republican. Protests also arose in smaller cities and towns in regions supportive of Trump. Noem's claim that the cities she spoke of were "overrun by violent mobs" is outright false. The protests in recent months were largely peaceful.
Source: NBC News Fact-Check on 2020 Republican Convention speech
Aug 26, 2020
Mike Pence:
Riots aren't peaceful protest; wrecking statues isn't speech
President Donald Trump and I will always support the right of Americans to peaceful protest, but rioting and looting is not peaceful protest, tearing down statues is not free speech. Those who do so will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Let me be clear: the violence must stop -- whether in Minneapolis, Portland, or Kenosha. Too many heroes have died defending our freedoms to see Americans strike each other down. We will have law and order on the streets of America.
Source: Speech at 2020 Republican National Convention
Aug 26, 2020
Joe Biden:
Vast majority of police are ashamed of what they've seen
Q: Trump says that you want to defund the police. Do you?BIDEN: No, I don't. There has to be national standards that apply to every police department. The other side is that we have in the African American community the desire to have police who
will protect them and know them, community policing. I don't want to defund police departments. I think they need more help, The vast majority of the police, they're ashamed of what they saw. You have to take action, and it has to be national.
Source: ABC This Week 2020 National Convention Biden/Harris Q&A
Aug 23, 2020
Kamala Harris:
Police accountability plus reimagining safe communities
Q: The president said Biden didn't talk about law enforcement. Your response?BIDEN: I did talk about what we have to do. This is the guy who has a budget calling for cutting a half a billion dollars in local law enforcement. I'm proposing that there
be basic laws relating to police conduct, we have to help the police departments with psychologists, sociologists, people who can get involved in making sure they can negotiate things that don't require a policeman with a gun to deal with.
Q: You joined the protest after George Floyd, while you still support law enforcement. Can you do both?
HARRIS: Absolutely. There needs to be accountability and consequence for anyone who breaks the law, including police officers, but also we need to
reimagine how we are creating safe communities and understand that the way to create safe communities is to invest in those communities, invest in high rates of homeownership, invest in public education in schools, invest in access to capital.
Source: ABC This Week 2020 National Convention David Muir Q&A
Aug 23, 2020
Socialist Party:
End racism, police brutality, mass incarceration
Mass incarceration and racist policing are symptomatic of the 400 years of brutal repression meted out to African-descended peoples in the U.S. and the genocide committed against the Native nations. Reparations must be paid to the African
American and Native communities! More than 2.2 million people are behind bars in the largest prison complex in the world. End mass incarceration of oppressed and all working class people. Fully prosecute all acts of police brutality and violence.
Source: PSL's 2020 Ten Point Program (2020 Socialist Convention)
Aug 15, 2020
Socialist Party:
Allow prisoners to unionize to negotiate living conditions
We call for support services for prisoners and prisoners' families to reduce ostracism, maintain family ties, and provide for non-degrading visitation policies. We call for the abolition
of prison labor for profit, forced labor ("chain gangs") and the use of prison labor to perform state services. We call for the right of prisoners to organize unions and cooperative groups to negotiate for better living conditions
Source: Socialist Party Platform at 2020-2021 PSL Convention
Aug 3, 2020
Democratic Party:
Too young to drink, too young for life without parole
We must break the school-to-prison pipeline that too often relies on arrests & law enforcement to address misbehavior that ought to be handled and deescalated within the school. A growing number of states have recognized it is unjust--and unjustifiable--
to punish children and teenagers as harshly as adults. We believe that if you aren't old enough to drink, you aren't old enough to be sentenced to life without parole. The federal government will incentivize states to stop incarcerating kids.
Source: Democratic Party Platform adopted at 2020 Convention
Jul 27, 2020
Democratic Party:
Ban chokeholds, new standards for "no-knock warrants"
Democrats will establish strict national standards governing the use of force, including banning the use of chokeholds and carotid holds and permitting deadly force only when necessary and a last resort to prevent an imminent threat to life.
Americans must feel safe when they are asleep in their own homes. We will work to establish "no-knock warrants" standards. The risk of mistakes and unintended consequences is too great.
Source: Democratic Party Platform adopted at 2020 Convention
Jul 27, 2020
Democratic Party:
Poverty is not a crime; eliminate cash bail
Poverty is not a crime, and it should not be treated as one. Democrats support eliminating the use of cash bail and believe no one should be imprisoned merely for failing to pay fines or fees, or have their driver's licenses revoked for unpaid tickets
or simple violations. Equal justice under the law should not be contingent on the ability to pay for quality legal representation, which is why we support increasing funding for public defenders and for the Legal Services Corporation.
Source: Democratic Party Platform adopted at 2020 Convention
Jul 27, 2020
Green Party:
Ban private prisons; moratorium on prison construction
Ban private prisons. Implement a moratorium on prison construction. Redirect funds to alternatives to incarceration. Provide incarcerated individuals the
right to vote by absentee ballot in the district of their domicile, and the right to vote during parole.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
Libertarian Party:
Repeal all victimless crime laws: gambling, drugs, sex
We favor the repeal of all laws creating "crimes" without victims, such as gambling, the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes, and consensual transactions involving sexual services.
We oppose the prosecutorial practice of "over-charging" in criminal prosecutions so as to avoid jury trials by intimidating defendants into accepting plea bargains.
The Libertarian Party supports the decriminalization of prostitution.
We assert the right of consenting adults to provide sexual services to clients for compensation, and the right of clients to purchase sexual services from consenting sex workers.
Source: Libertarian Party Platform for 2018-2020 National Convention
Jul 4, 2018
Page last updated: Sep 07, 2020