The Republican Party of Texas convention approved a number of criminal justice reforms for the party platform:
- The GOP platform calls for no Class C misdemeanor arrests except to prevent violence.
- It requires a criminal conviction before any asset forfeiture.
- It calls for the elimination of red-light cameras and other photo-enforcement systems
- It called on the legislature to raise the age of adult criminal culpability from 17 to 18.
- It called for an end to “the incarceration of individuals because they cannot pay tickets, fines, and fees for Class C misdemeanors, including traffic citations.”
- It calls for the immediate restoration of the “driver licenses of the citizens whose licenses were suspended by the Driver Responsibility Program and to cancel their debt.”
- It calls for crime labs to be sufficiently funded to reduce rape-kit processing times to 90 days.
- It calls for the Legislature to require a warrant for the government to access cell-phone location data.
- It calls for reducing penalties for low-level marijuana possession from a Class B misdemeanor to a civil fine.
- It calls on Congress to remove cannabis from the list of Schedule 1 drugs.
- It calls for “doctors to determine the appropriate use of cannabis for certified patients.” (In California doctors have determined that pot is a proper prescription for baldness, ingrown toenails, erectile dysfunction and just about any other kind of complaint.)
- It calls on the Legislature to fully fund indigent criminal defense.
One would have to think that some of these planks were written by Democrats, not by Republicans. And it sure looks like the Texas Republican Party is moving toward the legalization of pot.
(Note: Click here to view the 2018 Republican Party of Texas platform approved at the 2018 convention.)