1. If elected or re-elected to the city council, will you propose programs and/or initiatives to limit the number of arrests for minor offenses in the city?
Emery:
So-called "broken windows" policing (the tactic of heavily enforcing minor infractions) has lead to the criminalization of an entire group of people whose only real crime was poverty. Not only that, but because of structural racism in the criminal justice system that impact is felt disproportionately by brown and black people. I will make it a priority to limit both the number of arrests for minor offenses and the level of financial burden (such as fines, court costs, etc.) these offenses create.
2. If elected or re-elected to the city council, will you support a pre-booking diversion program for drug-related offenses and for those suffering from mental health issues?
Emery:
Being addicted to a drug is not a crime. It is a health issue.
Having a mental health crisis is not a crime. It is a health issue.
Mental health and drug addiction are not criminal issues and should not be treated as such, and the fact that they are leads to disastrous outcomes for both those affected and society at large.
3. If elected or re-elected to the city council, will you support a policy to require transparency and democratic accountability before city agencies acquire new surveillance tools?
Emery:
4. If elected or re-elected to the city council will you work to make stop and arrest data, including race and ethnicity data, available to the public quarterly?
Emery:
5. If elected or re-elected to the city council what will you do to ensure a timely, transparent and independent investigation whenever an officer uses deadly force?
Emery:
The current Memphis policy of a mandatory TBI investigation into any use of deadly force is a good start, but at the end of the day no one specific policy will be enough to ensure public trust in law enforcement. We must create a culture of accountability and transparency within law enforcement organizations so that independent investigation is not seen as a burden (or worse yet as anti-LEO hostility) but as way of ensuring that both law enforcement officers and the general public are protected.
6. Name 3 steps you would take as a council member to make the Community Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) more effective.
Emery:
1.) CLERB can and must have subpoena power. Without it, CLERB is essentially unable to compel testimony and therefore unable to perform its stated mission. (The current position that the City Council must issue subpoenas on CLERB's behalf has proven to be an effective denial of subpoena power.)
2.) Numerous CLERB meetings have been cancelled due to a lack of quorum. Those appointed to CLERB can and must be willing to fulfill the mission of CLERB or they must be replaced. (The City Council member who acts as CLERB's liaison must also be willing to fulfill CLERB's mission)
3.) CLERB must have the statutory power to enforce its findings, up to and including referring criminal charges to a prosecutor. An independent investigative body is useless if it does not have the power to act.
7. Would you support policies, programs or initiatives to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline?
Emery:
Since the first widely publicized school mass shootings in the late 1990's, school resource officers (SROs) have been placed in many American schools. The presence of these law enforcement officers in schools has lead to an increasing use of the criminal justice system to deal with student behavioral issues, to the point where a quick search can turn up dozens of viral videos of students being arrested (in many cases violently) for crimes such as "talking back to the teacher" and "skipping class".
This escalation from normal disciplinary procedures affect brown and black kids disproportionately (as does the rest of the criminal justice system) and has a particularly devastating effect on students with disabilities. I'm on the autism spectrum, and one of the most heartwrenching things I have ever seen was a video of a 7 year old boy (!) being arrested for the "crime" of being autistic in class.
Who does it serve to make children into criminals? How many parallels are there between what happens to the kids in juvenile detention and the kids who are being abused at the border? What sane society does this? These are questions that I have.
8. What does criminal justice reform mean to you?
Emery:
“While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”
- Eugene V. Debs