What is Pete Buttigieg's stance on criminal justice reform and policing?

1. The big goal: halve incarceration through decarceration and alternatives

Buttigieg’s headline promise was explicit: cut the nation’s incarcerated population by 50 percent by rebalancing the criminal legal system toward alternatives to prison, reducing sentences for nonviolent offenses, and reforming probation and parole to avoid re‑incarceration for technical violations ^{[1] [5] [6]}. His plan emphasizes redirecting funds into public health, economic opportunity, and programs that serve as alternatives to incarceration, framing decarceration as both a racial‑justice and fiscal imperative ^{[7] [1]}.

2. Sentencing, fines, and structural reforms: ending mandatory harms

The platform calls for eliminating mandatory minimums for nonviolent offenses, banning private prisons, ending arrests or incarceration for inability to pay legal financial obligations, and requiring consideration of ability to pay before levying fines and fees — moves aimed at dismantling revenue‑driven aspects of punishment and curbing disparate impacts on low‑income communities ^{[3] [8] [5]}. He’s also proposed bans on asking about criminal history on job applications to ease reentry, along with broader parole and probation reforms to reduce recidivism ^{[5] [9]}.

3. Policing reform: changes in practice, accountability, and local scrutiny

Buttigieg’s plan includes “reform[ing] policing” alongside broader criminal‑legal changes, emphasizing improved police‑community relations and accountability measures while stopping short of defunding police or wholesale abolition in the materials provided ^{[7] [2]}. His record as South Bend mayor complicated the message: national reporting noted his stewardship of a police department under scrutiny and framed policing reform as a thorny political issue for him and other local‑executive candidates ^{[10] [7]}.

4. Federal levers: grants, appointments, and the Justice Department

At the federal level Buttigieg proposes doubling funding for federal grants to states that commit to decarceration policies and tying those grants to accountability requirements, signaling a strategy of using federal incentives to drive state reforms ^{[1] [4]}. He also pledged to appoint judges, an attorney general, and sentencing commissioners committed to reform, arguing that executive appointments are essential to reshaping sentencing norms and enforcement priorities ^[2].

5. Reentry, civil rights, and the political framing

Reentry is central: the campaign promised investments in employment, education, and health care for those leaving incarceration and advocated restoring rights such as voting after people serve their sentences, positioning reintegration as a civil‑rights and public‑safety strategy ^{[9] [3]}. Buttigieg framed his proposals within a broader racial‑justice argument, acknowledging systemic unfairness and emphasizing policies to close racial disparities across arrest, sentencing, and collateral consequences ^{[2] [1]}.

6. Critiques, political vulnerability, and the contested terrain of policy vs. practice

Supporters hailed the plan’s scope and specific proposals as ambitious, while critics and reporters pointed to political vulnerability tied to Buttigieg’s municipal record — in particular, controversies around policing in South Bend — and to the persistent difficulty of translating federal incentives into uniform state practice ^{[5] [10] [7]}. Coverage collected by The Marshall Project and analysis by outlets like Time framed criminal justice as one of the most complex and politically delicate issues in the 2020 Democratic field, underscoring that policy promises face scrutiny where elected officials have direct policing oversight ^{[11] [10]}.