Brown County, TX
Republican Party

2006 STATE REPUBLICAN PARTY PLATFORM

• Prison Reform – We believe our prison systems should emphasize protection of society and punishment of offenders, ever mindful of their human rights. The state should assist offenders who desire reform. Prisoners should be required to perform meaningful work. Prisoners should not have access to private information of any citizen. We support alternative methods of prison administration. We support legislation prohibiting prisoners from initiating frivolous lawsuits. No extraordinary medical care, including organ transplants or body part replacement, should be performed on prisoners at taxpayer expense; nor should convicts be given preference over other people in medical care.
• Sentencing Reform – We urge parole boards to administer punishment according to the intent of the sentencing courts. We also call for disclosure:
  
  
  1. to juries of their rights and powers.
  2. of prior convictions of the defendant.
  3. About “truth in sentencing” by instructing juries on the actual time likely to be served before parole. We believe punishment should be assessed in proportion to the crime and should be a deterrent. We support imprisonment for life without parole for habitual felons. We believe courts should be able to minimize sentences and that any such minimum should not be altered by parole procedures. We believe convicted criminals should make restitution to their victims. We believe a minimum education level be established by law for all parolees. No inmate with a history of drug abuse should be eligible for parole until he has successfully completed a treatment program. We encourage law enforcement to root out sources of drug supply in addition to focusing on street dealings.

• Crime Shouldn’t Pay – No convicted criminal should be allowed to profit from the sale of rights to their story for books, movies, etc. while incarcerated, on parole, or on probation.
• Capital Punishment – We believe that properly applied capital punishment is legitimate, is an effective deterrent, and should be swift and unencumbered. When applied to the crime of murder, it raises the value of human life.
• Juvenile Justice – We encourage continuation of juvenile justice reforms, including private programs, “boot camps,” trying juveniles as adults when appropriate; consideration of a person’s juvenile conviction record in any prosecution of that person as an adult; and expansion of the determinate sentencing statute to include all aggravated offenses. We condemn incarcerating juveniles and adults in the same facility.
• Child Abuse – We recognize the family as a sovereign authority over which the state has no right to intervene, unless a parent or legal guardian has committed criminal abuse. Child abusers should be severely prosecuted. However, we oppose actions of social agencies to classify traditional methods of discipline as child abuse. However, we support enactment of a homicide-by-abuse statute that provides punishment for abusing a child to death without intention of killing the child. We support requiring publicly funded private agencies to comply with laws requiring reporting of instances of any kind of abuse as a condition of receiving such funding.
• Unborn Victims of Violence – We believe a person who injures or kills an unborn child should be subject to criminal and civil litigation, whether the child dies in the womb or is born alive.
• Sexual Assault – We believe that rape is a heinous crime for which punishment options should include death. Adults convicted of sexual molestation of a minor should receive mandatory prison sentences without probation or parole. We support increasing the penalty for failure to report child sexual assault cases, and we urge district attorneys to vigorously prosecute such failure. We urge the Legislature to eliminate from the child sexual assault law the “affirmative defense” when there is less than 36 months of age difference.
• Child Predators – We call on the Legislature to enact a Jessica’s Law similar to those passed in Louisiana, Florida and Arizona to ensure that Texas statutes meet or exceed the minimum requirements of the original Jessica’s Law.
• Addictive Behaviors – We recognize that addictive substances and pornography are dangerous and affect all of society. We encourage state and federal governments to severely prosecute illegal dealers and manufacturers. We urge Congress to discourage foreign export of such substances into our country. Faith based rehabilitation programs should be utilized in place of incarceration when possible. We oppose legalization of illegal drugs. We support an effective abstinence-based educational program for children. We oppose any “needle exchange” program. We call for vigorous enforcement of our DUI laws, whether intoxication is by alcohol or other drugs, and mandatory jail sentences for repeat offenders.
• Property Seizure Without Due Process – We oppose confiscation or seizure of private property without due process.
  Furthermore, to discourage institutional greed and a false sense of fiscal independence from the citizenry, neither law enforcement agencies nor their parent organizations should be allowed to reap any financial benefit from such seizures.
• Speed Limits – We support highway speed limits based on safety standards only.
  
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