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What do Republicans Brian Kemp of Georgia and Ron DeSantis of Florida have in common with Democrats Gavin Newsom of California and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan?
They all won their reelection this November after signing into law effective public safety reforms to make their states more safe amid public concern about rising crime.
Public safety remained one of the most pressing issues in the midterm elections, and much has been written about how tough-on-crime tactics lost. Despite an avalanche of ads blaming a rise in crime on recently passed criminal justice reforms, voters put their trust into solutions-driven leaders—not one political party or ideology of liberalism or conservatism. The ads did not propose actual policies to reduce crime, and in general, Americans rejected these scare tactics, including the criminalization of Black and brown lives.
They did this because voters understand what criminal justice reform is and is not. It's not a blue or red political football; it's about protecting lives and communities. Even amid unprecedented inflation, anxiety, and health challenges, in the 2022 midterms, the voters in their wisdom supported those embarking on clear and humane prescriptions.
Those prescriptions included probation and parole reform. People on probation and parole make up the largest part of our criminal justice system, far surpassing the number of people in our prisons and jails. And at its worst, probation and parole ends up needlessly incarcerating people for non-law-breaking. Technical violations like being late to a parole meeting because you were caring for an elderly parent or crossing state lines to pick up a child from school can land people in prison and trap them in a vicious cycle of incarceration and poverty.
The elected officials who understand this include potential 2024 presidential candidate and Florida Governor DeSantis. He overhauled the state's probation system to improve success rates for people on probation, safely shortening probation terms and providing remote platforms to report to probation officers.
The result has been expanding freedom to Floridians, so it's no surprise DeSantis cruised to victory on November 8 with a 20-point victory.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, home to the largest supervision population in the country, Governor Kemp signed legislation creating a pathway for early termination for people who have exemplified rehabilitation after serving three years of probation. He, too, was reelected.
Governor Newsom and Governor Hochul also won convincingly. Newsom signed into law limits to excessive probation and parole terms and increased pathways for sick and elderly people to safely return home. Hochul signed "The Less is More Act" to restrict the use of incarceration for technical violations, ensure transparent documentation, and create a system of earned time credits that incentivize good behavior.
And Governor Whitmer of Michigan stewarded legislation to end counterproductive one-size-fits-none parole conditions and instead require that parole conditions be tailored to the risk and needs of the person on parole.
The fact that these incumbents championed probation and parole reforms and won is a testament to public safety initiatives grounded in evidence-based policies.
Moreover, candidates who were attacked for their criminal justice positions won. In Pennsylvania, billboards equating John Fetterman with poverty and crime and a website called "Inmates for Fetterman" failed to persuade voters, who elected him to the U.S. Senate in spite of—or perhaps because of—his advocacy of second chances.
In Oklahoma, Governor Kevin Stitt, who enacted numerous reforms to the state's justice system and oversaw the largest single-day commutation in the nation's history, won re-election.
Despite these wins, there is not yet a widespread recognition that reform can be a catalyst for safety. Now we have an opportunity to finally get this right. Achieving safety requires us to recognize the failed approaches of decades past, in particular an over-reliance on incarceration and a lack of support and resources for communities of color and people reentering society.
These times are not as polarized as partisan politicians and media would like us to believe. With the election of a Democratic Senate and a Republican House of Representatives, there is a unique opportunity for the new bipartisan Congress to pass federal legislation that, through reforming the justice system, safely reduces the prison population, contributes to our economy, saves taxpayer money and advances safety for all.
Let us keep our eyes on pragmatic solutions to improve public safety and strengthen the freedom of our people.
Robert Rooks is CEO of REFORM Alliance, a national organization dedicated to probation and parole reform. He is the father of three sons.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
