The National Sheriffs' Association — one of the largest associations of law enforcement professionals in the United States, representing more than 3,000 elected sheriffs and a total membership of more than 20,000 —united with other prominent law enforcement organizations this week in calling for passage of the National Criminal Justice Commission Act, which was introduced by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and would create a blue ribbon commission to provide a comprehensive review of our nation's criminal justice system.
On Thursday, the ACLU, in conjunction with the Peace Alliance, the Student Peace Alliance, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, GlobalGrind.com and Ben & Jerry’s, held an event on Capitol Hill to press the case for congressional passage of the Youth PROMISE Act (Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education) – H.R. 1064/S. 435. This bipartisan legislation would address problems of gang involvement and youth violence through innovative and evidence-based community approaches, as opposed to the tired old routine of harsh sentences and long stints behind bars.
Earlier this week, acclaimed actress Robin Wright was in Washington, D.C., for the premiere of a new video that supports the Youth PROMISE Act. This legislation, which is currently pending in Congress, seeks to address youth violence by providing resources to communities to pursue comprehensive, evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies to decrease juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity.
Mandatory minimum sentencing relies on an inflexible formula to determine the required minimum sentencing, regardless of the individual circumstances of the case. At a time when our prisons are practically bursting at the seams, mandatory sentencing laws continue to funnel more and more low-level, nonviolent drug offenders into prison.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission reports that, even though the majority of cocaine users are white, 87 percent of people prosecuted for cocaine offenses in 2000 were Latinos and African-Americans. Mandatory minimums force judges to give long prison sentences to nonviolent low-level offenders.
If you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will leap out right away to escape the danger. But if you put a frog in a pot of water that is cool and gradually heat until boiling, the frog will not be aware of the danger until it is too late. Often, the same holds true when we are faced with creeping encroachments on our constitutional rights.
This principle was most recently evident as the House and Senate were considering the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act, legislation designed to help eliminate the nationwide backlog of rape evidence kits and bolster DNA testing of criminals and crime scene evidence.
