The desire for a peaceful and secure community is not only a value everyone shares, it is a basic human right that everyone deserves. Joe first ran for this office — and is now seeking re-election — because he wants to see this district flourish. Joe knows these neighborhoods intimately because he has lived here for the bulk of his life. Joe grew up here, he and his wife raised their kids here, and his family goes back 5 generations in these very neighborhoods. Now Joe is seeking another term because he wants to continue giving back to the community and help his neighbors.

Ending Systemic Racism & Mass Incarceration 

The United States locks up a higher percentage of its people than almost any democracy on earth. Our country’s incarceration rate is an appalling 664 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities). Meanwhile, Pennsylvania’s incarceration rate is only marginally lower at 659 per 100,000 people. This extreme level of mass incarceration is not only unacceptable — it’s also clearly not working to make us safer.

Our current system is inherently flawed. Low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately targeted due to systemic biases in our policing practices and judicial system. This practice effectively criminalizes race and poverty, and it traps some of the most vulnerable members of our community in harmful cycles of debt and criminalization. 

Study after study has shown that poverty, inequality, and social alienation are the predominant causes of crime, and so we must tackle this issue at the source by instituting solutions that address these areas. As such, we must also acknowledge the systemic disadvantages our BIPOC communities have endured throughout American history, and recognize that far too many of us still live in that long shadow cast by generations of displacement, exclusion, and segregation. We must come to terms with the legacy of redlining, and provide more resources and opportunities to the communities affected the most. 

When people’s basic needs are met, we have real safety in our community. Rather than build more prisons, we should work towards lowering the incarcerated population by investing in bettering the lives of Pennsylvanians. In this country, it is common to spend more tax dollars on the incarceration of an individual than it would cost to send them to college. We know that poverty and lack of opportunities leads to higher prison populations, and so we should spend our tax dollars wisely on increasing the quality of life of all Pennsylvanians. To the degree we invest in prisons, it should be to create and bolster true rehabilitation programs. We all will be better off with a corrections system that believes in a person’s ability to return to society as a fully engaged citizen and operates to make that return a reality.

Criminal Justice Reform & Police Accountability 

As a public servant, Joe takes his responsibility to the entire community seriously. This means engaging with everyone, finding balance between listening and leading, and always being ready to have conversations with those who have different viewpoints. The 177th is a diverse district, and Joe understands that not everyone has the same relationship with the police, especially our communities of color. This district is home to both people who feel the police make them safer as well as people who see the police as a threat. Joe has used his platform at local community meetings to address these matters and achieve progress through a continued dialogue. Joe believes the path forward requires understanding the experience of as many people as possible and to base decisions on the common threads of the voices of the entire community. After all, the strongest common thread is the desire to live in a safe and secure community.

In 2020, we experienced a national reckoning in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, and Joe proudly stood with the Legislative Black Caucus in their efforts to introduce policing reforms in the days that followed. However the local unrest and looting that erupted after that event — as well as the Philadelphia police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. — was completely unacceptable. While Joe supports in speaking truth to power and demanding accountability and reforms from our criminal justice system, he also firmly believes we must condemn such senseless acts of theft and destruction that only serve to cause more harm. Many parts of this city felt the impact of that unrest directly, especially some of the businesses of this district along the commercial corridor on Aramingo Avenue that were heavily looted and damaged in the immediate fallout. Joe believes for any progress to occur, we must lower the temperature of the conversation so we can build an understanding through dialogue and compassion. 

This term, Joe requested an assignment on the Judiciary Committee in order to speak out on these issues and the disparate impact of criminal laws on communities of color. Joe supports models to focus police exclusively on law enforcement and to move tasks like mental health service, domestic violence intervention, and addiction treatment to social service programs that are fully trained in these issues. This will require a redistribution of government funding. Alternative models exist in cities across the country where police departments have prioritized the empowerment of the community over strict law enforcement. Placing services ahead of enforcement means funding programs with the right tools and training for the complex problems we need solved: homelessness, addiction, and mental health. These methods have resulted in reduced crime and poverty rates elsewhere, and Joe believes they should be implemented in Philadelphia as well.

WATCH: Joe is Creating a Safer & Cleaner Community