Justice and Due Process

Public disorder concerns are real, and residents deserve effective responses. But overcriminalization is at its most counterproductive reaches people not causing harm while leaving the underlying disorder untouched.
Utah's top 25% most-arrested homeless individuals cost Salt Lake City $51 million annually in shelter, police, court, and medical expenses. As lawmakers pour another $45.6 million into the system, organizations like The Other Side Village are already breaking the cycle through sobriety, accountability, and employment, without taxpayer funding. The data makes the case: expanding a broken system isn't the answer.
A Twitch streamer made the moral case for stealing from corporations on the New York Times' podcast. As a former prosecutor, here's why that argument gets justice exactly backwards, and why the real victims are never corporations.
During the 2026 general session, lawmakers tackled everything from victim privacy and juvenile justice to kratom regulation, capital punishment procedures, and police transparency.
HB 275 expands automated surveillance and revenue-driven enforcement in ways that undermine due process, burden families, and erode the limited-government principles Utahns across the political spectrum value.
Salt Lake County leaders are exploring a community-based approach that diverts people experiencing mental health crises and homelessness away from the criminal justice system and into treatment, could guide local reforms.

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