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Mike Gravel on Crime and Punishment

The United States has the highest incarceration rate as well as the highest number of documented prisoners in the world. As such, how the United States defines crime and the terms of consequence for violations is an immensely important issue. This topic includes information about candidate positions on: the death penalty, hate crimes, drug policy, and mandatory minimum sentencing.

The issues

Mike Gravel strongly opposes the death penalty

Gravel has said little about capital punishment on the campaign trail, but he called for abolition of the death penalty in his 1972 book, Citizen Power.

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Mike Gravel supports hate crime legislation

Senator Gravel supports same-sex marriage and opposes the Defense of Marriage Act. He supports expanding hate-crime legislation and opposes laws that allow discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or one's gender identity or expression.

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Mike Gravel strongly supports relaxing drug laws and/or drug enforcement

"And one of the areas that touches me the most and enrages me the most is our War on Drugs that this country has been putting forth for the last generation."

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When asked how he would remedy substance-abuse problems that plague communities across the nation, the grandfather of four says he would start with the "decriminalization" of marijuana and by treating drug addiction as a public health problem, not a criminal problem.

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Mike Gravel strongly opposes mandatory minimum sentencing

We must eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

Campaign website, www.gravel2008.us, "Issues" May 23, 2007

Mike Gravel strongly supports an increase in funds for drug rehabilitation as an alternative to prison

The US incarcerates more people and at a higher rate than any other peacetime nation in the world. The number of US residents behind bars has now reached 2.3 million. We are losing an entire generation of young men and women to our prisons. We must eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing laws. We must increase the use of alternative penalties for nonviolent drug offenders. Prisons in this country should be a legitimate criminal sanction--but it should be an extension of a fair, just and wise society

Campaign website, www.gravel2008.us, "Issues" May 23, 2007

The lesson is clear. More police, more jails, more tough talk will not help. None of these traditionally instinctive reactions to crime can stem the rising tide.

Citizen Power, by Sen. Mike Gravel, p.196-197 Jan 1, 1972

"It is time to end prohibition and start treating addiction as a public health problem. This has ravaged our inner cities, and we are losing an entire generation of men and women to prisons. We must regulate hard drugs for the purpose of treating addicts, which would emphasize rehabilitation and prevention over incarceration."

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