Prison Reform Leaders Ask Harris to Drop "Tough on Crime" Rhetoric

The Facts

• Criminal justice reform advocates and leaders are urging Vice President Kamala Harris to change her campaign rhetoric on crime and focus her platform on addressing mass incarceration, according to a letter exclusively reported by The Hill.

• The likely Democratic nominee for president has touted her record as an attorney general and prosecutor, framing November’s election as a contest between a “tough-on-crime” prosecutor and a convicted felon – Republican nominee former Pres. Donald Trump.

• More than 160 leaders directly impacted by incarceration – including Norris Henderson and DeAnna Hoskins, two executives of prominent criminal justice reform advocacy organizations – say that such language is harmful to Harris’ campaign and marginalizes those impacted by the criminal justice system.