What to Know About Tim Walz, Harris' VP Pick, and Criminal Justice

Now that Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her working mate, voters will flip their consideration to his file on a wide range of points, together with felony justice.

Crime will seemingly be a key theme on the marketing campaign path, and conservatives have already been attacking Walz on the difficulty. A press release from the RNC slammed him for his positions on immigration and policing. In the meantime, felony justice reform advocates have praised a few of the sweeping modifications signed by Walz, who grew to become governor in 2018 and received reelection in 2022.

Listed below are 5 key issues to find out about his file:

Final 12 months, Walz signed a legislation that overhauled the state’s felony justice system.

In 2023, Walz signed into legislation a serious felony justice reform invoice aimed toward drastically chopping the variety of individuals unnecessarily beneath probation and parole supervision, decreasing the quantity of people that land again in jail after launch and clearing a few of the obstacles for individuals returning house, amongst different provisions. Previous to this legislation, individuals may very well be sentenced to probation for many years, which consultants say results in extra individuals touchdown again in jail however little extra public security. Due to the modifications, Minnesota has 5,470 fewer individuals on probation, based on Lauren Krisai of the Justice Motion Community, which helped shepherd the reforms. “There weren’t a variety of governors that supported these things in 2023, so the truth that he was pleasant was large,” Krisai stated. “There was simply this nationwide narrative that crime was going up; we must always maintain off on any reforms. In Minnesota, they had been like, ‘We’re going to disregard the nationwide narrative and move good coverage.’”

Different main modifications that fell beneath the auspices of that reform bundle embrace: eliminating life with out parole for crimes dedicated as a teen; enacting a “clear slate” provision that mechanically expunges sure crimes from individuals’s information after a time frame; restoring the suitable to vote to individuals on probation or parole; and legalizing leisure marijuana. This 12 months, Walz additionally signed a invoice to finish jail gerrymandering; on the subsequent Census, individuals in jail will rely as residents of the neighborhoods the place they lived earlier than they had been incarcerated, not the cities the place they’re locked up.

Walz, who tapped his lawyer basic to prosecute the officer who murdered George Floyd, additionally confronted some criticism for a way rapidly he responded to protests in 2020.

Amid protests that rocked Minneapolis and the nation after the homicide of George Floyd, Walz confronted powerful selections about deal with the unrest. As peaceable protests turned to looting and arson, town’s mayor known as Walz and requested for assist from the Nationwide Guard, telling him the native police wouldn’t be capable to deal with the scenario on their very own. However Walz waited an extra day earlier than signing an government order to ship the troops in. Within the meantime, a five-mile stretch of Minneapolis and St. Paul burned, together with the police precinct and a whole bunch of companies. To his critics, that hesitation was an indication that “he froze beneath stress, beneath a calamity, as individuals’s properties had been being burned down,” as Republican State Sen. Warren Limmer instructed the New York Occasions.

To Walz’ supporters, he was delicate to protesters’ frustrations. Kevin Reese, a neighborhood organizer who was concerned within the protests and has since labored with the governor on felony justice reforms, stated the governor did not wish to convey extra hurt to an already tense scenario. “He learn the room.”

On the time of Floyd’s homicide, Justin Terrell was government director of Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage, a state company meant to empower Black individuals statewide. Walz got here all the way down to the nook the place Floyd was murdered to speak to individuals “whereas town was nonetheless smoldering,” Terrell stated. “No photograph ops. He wrote on the bottom, ‘Justice Now’” in sidewalk chalk. “That stated lots to me.”

Walz additionally tapped Minnesota Legal professional Basic Keith Ellison to prosecute Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in Floyd’s homicide, a transfer that observers say was key to Chauvin’s conviction and prolonged jail sentence.

Not lengthy after Floyd’s homicide, Walz advocated for and signed police reform payments.

Because the protests continued, Walz known as a particular session of the state lawmakers, difficult a divided legislature to move a sequence of police reform payments in July 2020. Walz signed the bundle, described by the native press as “a few of the most substantial modifications to legislation enforcement and police accountability in a era,” lower than 60 days after Floyd’s loss of life beneath Chauvin’s knee. The legislation bans chokeholds, “warrior-style” coaching that encourages “aggressive conduct,” and requires officers to step in if a colleague is utilizing extreme pressure, amongst different main modifications.

“This name to a particular session shouldn’t be a name simply from me. It is that primal scream you heard from individuals on the streets demanding justice, demanding it now and demanding us step into this second,” Walz stated on the time.

State officers beneath Walz additionally negotiated a consent decree with town of Minneapolis over policing practices that the state human rights division stated had been discriminatory. The 144-page doc is binding on town and will increase police accountability amongst different modifications, although critics argue the accountability provisions usually are not robust sufficient. The Walz administration additionally reinvigorated the board that licenses and disciplines law enforcement officials statewide within the wake of the George Floyd protests.

The large felony justice invoice that Walz signed final 12 months included a bundle of gun security measures. The legislation supplied funding for violence prevention packages, expanded background verify guidelines, and instruments to forestall individuals deemed a danger to themselves or others from proudly owning weapons. It was praised by gun-control advocacy teams like Everytown for Gun Security and Mothers Demand Motion as a method to curb gun violence. However gun rights teams slammed it.

Walz was as soon as a darling of gun rights teams, based on the New York Occasions. Early in his profession, he was endorsed by the Nationwide Rifle Affiliation, a conservative group selling gun rights, and Weapons & Ammo journal included him of their listing of high politicians for gun homeowners in 2016. However after Walz started supporting stricter gun legal guidelines, he fell out of favor with the NRA, bragging the group now offers him “straight F’s.” Walz stated the ranking proved that he was uniquely positioned to construct the coalition essential to lastly move frequent sense gun laws.

Walz’ file on immigration contains driver’s license legislation, assist for a pathway to citizenship.

Final 12 months, Walz signed a legislation permitting Minnesotans, no matter their immigration standing, to acquire a driver’s license. A press launch from the governor’s workplace stated the brand new legislation would “enhance security throughout Minnesota by making certain that each one drivers are licensed, insured, and have taken driver’s schooling programs.” Walz has additionally supported permitting individuals dropped at the U.S. as youngsters, typically known as “dreamers”, a pathway to citizenship.

Immigration has been a sizzling button difficulty through the presidential election, and former President Donald Trump was fast to assault Walz for being pro-immigrant. Trump, this 12 months’s Republican presidential nominee, has falsely claimed there’s a “migrant crime wave.” Information evaluation exhibits no connection between undocumented immigration and crime, and analysis exhibits immigrants are considerably much less more likely to commit crimes than individuals born within the U.S.