Earlier this month, Tennessee state legislators participated in a panel on bipartisan criminal justice efforts at Vanderbilt Law. Hosted by the Vanderbilt Project on Prosecution Policy (VPOPP), the panel featured Tennessee State Representative Bob Freeman, Tennessee State Senator Kerry Roberts, and Heather Meshell, founder of Ampersand Advocacy. VPOPP Director Alissa Marque Heydari moderated the discussion.
Finding Common Ground
Heydari began by surveying the panelists about their stances on criminal justice issues, asking each to put up a green or red card to agree or disagree with a certain proposition. Among the many statements, Freeman, Roberts, and Meshell all concurred that people with a record should be able to get an occupational license, that nonviolent offenses should be expungable, and that low-level mentally ill offenders should get treatment, not jail.
Meshell then pointed to criminal justice legislation that passed with cross-aisle support.
“One of the early reform bills that [Freeman and I] worked on was the Jim Coley Protection for Rape Survivors Act. Jim Coley was a Republican from Shelby County, and [Freeman] named it after him because of all his efforts working with sexual assault survivors,” Meshell said. “The bill created a [rape kit] tracking system for sexual assault survivors, much like UPS or Amazon tracks your packages.” Most recently, Freeman and Roberts sponsored companion bills that became law, allowing minors in Tennessee to get a rape kit without needing parental consent. “[The original law requiring parental consent] was not victim-centered,” Freeman explained. “We were able to speak to our collective bodies about why this makes sense as a policy and how it shouldn’t be a partisan decision.”
They also co-sponsored successful legislation that would notify victims in Davidson and Shelby counties of restorative justice options.
Roberts noted how keeping an open mind is the key to bringing in legislators from across the political spectrum. “The reason that [Meshell] has credibility in a Republican’s office is that we don’t hear her eyes roll after she leaves,” Roberts said. “[Meshell] leaves our office and is the same person. We can see her authenticity, even though there might be times we disagree from an ideological standpoint. There’s fundamental respect.”
Similarly, Freeman described how truth is also a value held closely by all policymakers. “We may not agree, but we will be honest and tell [each other] where we stand. And then we try and work where we can, not fight over something we disagreed on two weeks ago.”
How to Pass Bipartisan Legislation
Meshell described how aspiring and current advocates can elevate bills that might be seen as too partisan by assessing the legislation’s landscape. “Being aware of the political environment, and who’s mad at who and who voted against whose bill and who’s working together and who’s not, knowing where all the pieces on the chessboard are, is an important part of assessing whether your advocacy will have a path to success,” she noted.
She described how compelling stories can truly move lawmakers, especially the stories from those inside prison walls. Meshell has invited legislators, including Freeman and Roberts, on visits to prisons, which have sparked person-to-person interactions and actual conversations that changed hearts and minds. “Highlighting impacted voices is such an important part of the work we do, and it can be hard, especially with incarcerated voices,” she said. “I was grateful for these two going inside the prison walls with me and listening to people, their stories, and how their lives were impacted by policies passed in the legislature.”
Both Roberts and Freeman expressed how meeting people through these visits and other programming has been eye-opening. “It’s easy to hate an idea. It’s really hard to hate a person…[these interactions] give you more empathy that is lost in a lot of politics,” Freeman explained.
“I think about going to [Trousdale Turner Correctional Center] or to other prisons. I think the vast majority of people [in there] are like, ‘you have no idea how I wish I could take two minutes of my life back,’” Roberts added.
The panelists finished the discussion by discussing how their own personal experiences and philosophies inform their work. Freeman mentioned his wife, who serves as president of the Sexual Assault Center in Nashville, and how his favorite pieces of legislation are the ones where his constituents feel the real impact. Roberts, who refuses to let his role as a senator define him, added that good policy will always be his goal. Meshell described her multi-dimensional perspective of the criminal legal system – she has experienced the system as a victim, defendant, victim advocate, criminal defense attorney, and family member of an incarcerated person – and how that has opened her eyes to potential improvement.
“I’m grateful to do this work and partner with such passionate, intelligent lawmakers who also want to improve these systems, because they do impact people. And the people who navigate these systems are being harmed,” Meshell said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to make [these systems] better.”
