The 35th Amendment (Reconstitution Amendment 8)
A first draft of a proposal for the 35th Amendment to the United States Constitution (Reconstitution Amendment 8) for your feedback.
Included in this email is a link to the Reconstitution’s Amendment 8. In the comment section of this post, we invite you to critique it with your whole heart, getting deep into the nitty-gritty if you so desire. As always, you may also set up a voice or video call if you wish to speak with us directly about the piece.
Remember that we want to cultivate coherent, deliberative multilogues that emphasize curiosity, empathy, and humility. Your input will inform and transform our framing. What you comment here might have a significant impact on the final version of Amendment 8.
The guiding question for Amendment 8 is this: What circumstances, if any, justify asymmetrical limits on rights?
Included in the Framers’ deliberations were these sub-questions:
How can we transform a system of retributive justice into one of restorative justice?
How can we simultaneously deter people from violating the rule of law while also addressing the conditions that lead to those behaviors?
How can we protect citizens from those who represent a continued danger to society through unremorseful acts of physical and economic violence?
Our conversations included the role of criminal law (deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, retribution, and restitution), penalties and punishments (tort liability, fines, and incarceration); and, denormalizing the current criminal (in)justice system.
We’ve split this Amendment into two parts. The first part addresses education and the second addresses criminal justice. We think these two areas, which may seem disconnected, are really part of the same project, which is developing citizens with good character, civic responsibility, and culpability for their actions.
We propose to guarantee every American a right to public education. It’s necessary to imbue the prerequisite understanding of the norms by which citizens are bound, and to enable the embodiment of civic responsibility through sound mind and honorable character. Importantly, we also propose to guarantee continued education and mental health professionals throughout the entirety of people’s lives.
This same concern for developing character we apply to criminal justice. We propose that sentencing of criminal convictions shall opt for redemptive, restitutive, and restorative rehabilitation whenever possible. After this we propose a number of other pieces to reform the criminal justice system. Take a look at the document to see what we have in mind.
What do you think of this framing? Do you think the specific proposals sound reasonable? Are there any ways they could backfire?
If you think we missed any big and important aspects, please tell us! If you have quibbles about the wording, let it be known! As history shows, precedent-setting Constitutional interpretations can hinge on the most unassuming of phrases or even the placement of a comma. Every little detail matters.
Without further ado: here is a link to the Reconstitution Amendment 8.
Thank you for your co-creation. We can’t wait to hear what you think.