Legislation

Today, there is widespread recognition that disordered substance use is an illness to be treated and not a criminal problem to be punished. However, CT and the rest of the U.S. insist on addressing addiction, a public health problem, through criminal law for decades.

Connecticut is stronger and safer when a person who is formerly incarcerated has a fair chance of accessing a job, housing, and education. Yet, people who are formally incarcerated are nearly ten times more likely to be homeless than any other members of the public.

We need to tackle the opioid crisis with public health and epidemic responses to combat the rising number of deaths, and not by further entrenching policing in the problem. We support bills like House Bill 6090 that approach the opioid crisis through a lens of harm reduction.

Criminal penalization through both fines and prison sentences is an outrageously disproportionate response to the vandalization of stone walls.

Ending mass incarceration requires us to continue making progress toward reducing the number of people who enter the criminal legal system and reducing the amount of time that people who do not enter the system serve.

People involved in our criminal legal system who finish their sentences have paid their debt to society. But rather than support people with criminal records to thrive in their communities, CT barricades them from education opportunities, employment, and essential social services.

Exponentially increasing the maximum fine that municipalities can charge for ordinance violations is likely to further entrench people, especially families of color, into cycles of poverty. What results is a two-tiered criminal legal system, where income level determines the outcome.

The ACLU-CT fights to protect access to fair and equal justice for all Connecticut residents. When children are in the care of DCF, they receive legal representation through the Public Defender Services. But, once these children turn 18, in most cases they lose access to their counsel.

Protecting residents in long term care facilities is important, but mandatory background and sex offender registry checks will limit the ability of people living with criminal records to get the end-of-life residential care they need.