What's Important to You?
Click Let's Talk to ask questions, express concerns, and share ideas about how we can build an Arizona that works for all of us. What needs to change in Arizona? What's been successful, but needs improvement? I will respond here and through Twitter and Facebook. Together we will address the issues that matter most to residents of LD1 and create a secure future for our families and for Arizona.
You Wrote: Judy, what's your position on Gun Control?
I believe in the 2nd Amendment as it is written in the United States Constitution. I also believe that Arizona can pass legislation that both upholds our 2nd Amendment rights and helps protect the lives of our friends, neighbors, families—the very people we know and love. The foundation of consensus on this issue is the very fact that we all want these two things--to protect public safety and to safeguard our freedoms and Constitutional rights. So let’s get to work. Let’s pass Universal Background Check laws and Red Flag laws that pass muster on both these fronts. This is what Arizona should and must do, and I am prepared to do the hard work to get this done.
You Wrote: What are your thoughts on capital punishment?
I am against the death penalty in Arizona. I believe state execution is inhumane, but perhaps more critically, it is irreversible. Our criminal justice system has systematically failed people of color and people without financial means. Too many people continue to be wrongly incarcerated and put on death row because of an inadequate defense, misused forensic science, false confessions, eyewitness misidentification, unreliable jailhouse informants, and inability to access post conviction DNA tests. We cannot, as a people of good conscience, take the chance of executing even one innocent person because the right protections were not in place. We are in dire need of criminal justice reforms, and that is what we should focus on.
You Wrote: What about sex education in our schools?
Providing accurate, age-appropriate information on sexual health is the very best way—the proven way-- to keep children safe from disease, abuse and pregnancy. Sex education is an important part of school curricula and should begin before middle school. We can’t wait until then to begin addressing sexual health when children as young as eleven are engaging in sexual activity and even younger children are the targets of predation. Arming children with the facts that will protect them as they get older is key to enabling them to make the right and safe decisions regarding their sexuality. If we are to vanquish baseless misconceptions that breed fear, intolerance, and hate, then sex education must include discussion of sexual diversity and identity.