The Political Dynamics of Justice Reform in The U.S.

Stockton has been on a long, arduous road to recovery. But the city with a population of
310,000 has found its footing—swagger, even—thanks to an infusion of youth, pride,
and chutzpah radiating off its 28-year-old mayor.
When Michael D. Tubbs, the former councilman and Obama White House intern, took
up the reigns at city hall in 2017, he became the city’s first black mayor and the
youngest ever to hold the position.
Tubbs is also somewhat of a celebrity mayor. He has made the rounds on national
television to champion the city’s Universal Basic Income (UBI) experiment. Under the
program, a random group of residents each month receive a $500 preloaded debit card
with the freedom to spend as they wish.
Tubbs’ goals are ambitious, perhaps even audacious. The UBI trial is one of many
threads he’s pulling—seemingly all at once—so he can leave Stockton in a better place
than how he found it, and that includes undoing generational challenges: poverty, poor
education, and violence.
While lawmakers statewide are seemingly committed to ending mass incarceration,
jurisdictions like Stockton are doing their part as well, just on a more granular level.
On Jan. 1, Tubbs published a celebratory tweet in which he announced that the city had
reduced homicides and shootings by 40 and 30 percent, respectively. Most local
leaders often take time to celebrate a decline in violence—after all, lawmakers want to
keep their communities safe. But for a mayor whose return to Stockton was spurred by
a horrific act of violence, this was deeply personal.
Tubbs was a junior at Stanford University when he landed an internship at the White
House’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Throw in a stint at Google, and Tubbs was
on a path toward success—something that eluded many of the people he knew back
home in Stockton.
Then everything changed. Tubbs cousin was fatally shot, and that proved to be a
“tipping point” for him, he tells News Beat podcast.
After his cousin’s untimely death, Tubbs did a lot of “soul searching,” he says, which
helped him uncover a harsh reality: “There was countless families in this country and
countless of my community that felt the same pain and anger.”
When he returned home, Tubbs ran for city council, and won. Preventing gun violence
has been an obsession of his ever since.
Among the most controversial initiatives has been the city’s partnership with anti-gun
violence nonprofit Advance Peace, which the council approved last year. The program
identifies residents most likely to commit violence and provides them with support
networks and includes daily check-ins with mentors and job training. After six months in
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