Messaging Guide

Crime

Begin in agreement, for example: The most fundamental job of our city/county/state is to protect people from crime.
Use values, for example: Security, safety, protection, responsibility, justice.
Show how they benefit, for example: Our policies will make you and your community safer.

When you’re talking about crime, don’t begin with the ideas of fairness or equal opportunity; don’t lead with the underlying causes of crime. Persuadable voters want to know, most of all, that you will protect them. In fact, it shouldn’t be hard to explain since that’s what all good progressive criminal justice policies accomplish—they prevent crime, reduce recidivism and improve the quality of life for everyone in the community.

Don’t say… Rights of criminals
Say… Security, safety, protection, responsibility, justice

Conversely, right wing policies—like giving long prison sentences to nonviolent drug offenders—take hundreds of millions of dollars away from strategies that more effectively fight drug abuse and prevent crime.

Say… The most fundamental job of government is to protect you and your community from crime. That means arresting and prosecuting violent offenders. It also means preventing crimes from ever happening, changing tactics that often lead toward the wrong suspects, and using the best technology to identify the guilty while protecting the innocent. We need to make you and your community safer.

Everyone wants safer communities. But what if the progressive policy is specifically about the rights of the accused? For example, what about policies to require electronic recording of interrogations, reform police procedures for lineups, or create commissions to research whether imprisoned people are actually innocent? Emphasize that for every wrongly convicted person there is an actual perpetrator who has escaped justice and remains a threat to our public safety. Point out that more modern police practices have been proven to work better than current ones. Say that we owe it to the victim, as well as the whole community, to find and punish the real criminal. For example:

Say… The whole point of this policy is to protect you from crime. A lot of other jurisdictions get better evidence from suspects and witnesses by requiring that all police questioning be electronically recorded. It protects the innocent and makes it easier to convict the guilty. Technology has rapidly changed, and we should take advantage of it.