Prosecute Corrupt Politicians and Corporate Criminals
What We're Up Against
Right now, we have two criminal justice systems: one for the rich, and one for the rest of us.
The Southern Poverty Law Center agrees: you fare better if you’re guilty and rich, instead of poor and innocent.
That’s not right or fair.
Never again should one of our fellow citizens be arrested for being sick, or poor, or Black.
Our Plan
- Shift 200 officers away from policing the most vulnerable and toward policing the most powerful.
- Create a Corporate Crime Division to:
- combat wage theft,
- air and water pollution,
- surface owners rights violations,
- union-busting,
- discrimination,
- opioid distribution,
- use tax violations,
- payroll tax violations,
- unpaid corporate and individual tax bills and more.
- Strengthen the laws against corporate crime.
- Start targeting companies for:
- health care fraud,
- tax fraud,
- and consumer fraud.
- Start targeting companies for:
Reduce bias and graft in our courthouses, city halls, and state government agencies.
- Create and enforce conflict-of-interest measures.
- Focus resources on larger/more complex fraud and self-dealing (as opposed to aiming at street-level fraud).
- Combat ethics violations, vote-buying, quid pro quo between contractors and lawmakers, discrimination in state government, local and state-level corruption, and more.
The commission will be led by crime victims, community leaders, ex-offenders, and their families.
- Establish zero tolerance laws for misconduct and racial bias.
- Track and institute accountability measures around racial arrest and incarceration disparities.
- Allow citizens to bring charges of bias against officers.
- Make police union contract negotiations public.
- Shift 150 state police positions towards unarmed violence prevention positions outside of the state police hierarchy:
- social workers,
- community health workers,
- community violence prevention council directors,
- violence prevention workers in schools and hospitals to replace uniformed officers.
- Establish an independent civilian review board so state police officers are not policing themselves.
- End the police rape loophole: there is no such thing as consensual sex with an on-duty police officer.
- Fund a mental health program for police officers.
- Make West Virginia a national leader in de-escalation tactics.
- Institute a $10,000 average raise for all state police officers, violence prevention workers, and investigators to help recruit the next generation.
No one politician or slate of candidates can win this plan alone. We need you.
If you have an idea for how to make this plan stronger, or if you would like to lend a hand to win it, contact our co-chair Stephen Smith at stephen@wvcantwait.com.