Ryan maintained his call for “all nonviolent criminals” to be released from jail without posting bail.
Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan, who is running for the Senate, broke with national party leaders on Tuesday by saying that “violence is an issue” in the next midterm elections.
Ryan has also defended his stance on ending cash bail and freeing “all the nonviolent offenders” by citing it as an example of how his support for marijuana legalization makes sense.
In Columbus, Ohio, at a town hall meeting sponsored by Fox News and moderated by Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier, Ryan made these statements.
I don’t care what other people say, but crime is a problem, as Ryan puts it. There has to be more police, better pay for police, and more money to put into police training and education.
MacCallum interrogated Ryan about crime, focusing on his remarks from the 2019 presidential campaign in which he advocated for the abolition of cash bail on a national basis, vowed to liberate “all the nonviolent offenders,” and asked for a 50% reduction in the prison population.
When asked to elaborate on his earlier statement, Ryan said, “well, what I’m talking about here is marijuana offenses.” I support legalizing marijuana and the possession of small amounts for personal use.
MacCallum chimed in to emphasize, “You meant ‘all nonviolent prisoners out,'” adding his own emphasis.
“In my opinion, marijuana offenses are the primary concern,” Ryan said. “We spend, and it could be the worst use of tax dollars ever. You will go to jail if you are caught with marijuana. That’s just absurd to us. Marijuana, if properly taxed and utilized to treat addiction, might be an effective weapon in the fight to keep fentanyl and other hard drugs out of the country and society.”
He said, “The regulations as they exist are unjust in a system where Blacks are six times more likely to find up in jail than Whites for using marijuana.”
During his Senate campaign in Ohio, Ryan faced backlash from voters because of comments he made while a 2020 presidential candidate.
In September of this year, Ryan stated at a civil rights event that “monetary bail is innately unjust” and hence should be outlawed worldwide.
Former ACLU political director Jeanne Hruska was asked, “Most people in jail right now are defendants waiting for their day in court. Until proven guilty, people enjoy the presumption of innocence. Additionally, several jurisdictions are gradually doing away with cash bail. Would you support it on a nationwide scale?”
In fact, Ryan did say as much right at that moment. Similar to the arguments we have about the immigration issue, whenever we hear about children being pulled away from their parents, a person’s failure to post bail prohibits them from working and caring for their children, which may have a cascading effect of bad repercussions.
Ryan has also made it clear that he is in favor of releasing low-level offenders from jail in June 2019.
An ACLU “rights for all voter” approached Ryan and asked whether he would pledge to cut the jail population in half if he were elected president.
I don’t know if it’s by 50 percent or not, but we want to get all the nonviolent offenders out, for sure,” Ryan said when asked how much the number would reduce.
On November 8th, Ohio voters will decide whether to support Ryan or his Republican challenger, JD Vance.