Someone responded to one our recent emails with this very question, and I think it is quite fair.
If you think our justice system is perfect the way it is in the United States, then I would say you should probably not give us your money, because I want to make significant changes as Polk County Attorney.
However, if you believe that we should have a better and much more effective justice system then you probably should donate to our campaign.
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For example, marijuana use is still illegal in the state of Iowa, but it's a waste of a prosecutor's time to charge people with low-level possession of marijuana. If I'm elected, we won't be charging people with low-level possession of pot. . . and that would be a significant positive change for almost half a million people in Iowa.
If you believe we need to do a better job of keeping kids out of the juvenile court system whenever we can, then I would say you definitely need to donate money to our campaign. I represent kids and parents in the juvenile courts. I've seen which diversion programs work to keep kids out of the juvenile justice system.
The Iowa Human Rights Commission put out a report November of last year that stated, among other things, that Black youth in Iowa are 6.5 times more likely to end up in the juvenile court system for a simple misdemeanor than white kids. That tells me that we are returning white kids who commit simple misdemeanors back to their parents, giving them a second chance, while we charge/detain Black kids and give them a criminal record for the same offense.
We need to eliminate those disparities. When we partner with community-based organizations that listen to kids, provide what they need, and focus on literacy, we can make a lot of progress keeping kids out of the system.
If you think our cash bail system in this country is good, then I would say don't donate to me. But, if you think that people should not sit in jail solely because they do not have money to bond out, then please donate to our campaign.
Folks should only be sitting in jail if they are a public safety threat. If a wealthy person drives while suspended and a poor person drives while suspended, the wealthy person is out of jail in an hour while the poor person may sit there for a month and lose their job, their housing and connections to the community.
Not because they were a safety risk, but because they don't have the money to make bail. That does not make us any safer, in fact that destabilization makes us less safe.
We desperately need new leadership in the Polk County Attorney's Office. So, if you believe we need to make significant changes to our criminal and juvenile justice systems, I hope you will donate.
