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The Sentencing Project

News related to legislation regarding criminal sentencing, disenfranchisement and other inmate-rights issues.
By The Sentencing Project

Post Frequency: 1.1/day

Last Entry: July 14, 2009 at 17:20:01

Read Advocacy Material: Crack the Disparity Newsletter Released by Coalition of Advocates

Posted on June 19, 2008
The Sentencing Project has participated in the release of the inaugural edition of the Crack the Disparity Coalition's quarterly e-newsletter. The coalition unveils this publication on an important day, the 22nd anniversary of Len Bias' death - a young man at the apex of a promising basketball career, whose drug overdose fueled the passage of the harsh sentencing laws this coalition seeks to change...

Read News: Crack the Disparity Newsletter Released by Coalition of Advocates

Read News: Sen. Webb to Lead Joint Economic Hearing on Drug Policy Thursday

Posted on June 18, 2008
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) will convene a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) Thursday to examine the economic consequences of United States' drug policy at 10 a.m. at 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building. The hearing entitled, "Illegal Drugs: Economic Impact, Societal Costs, Policy Responses," will explore the illegal drug economy in the United States, assess the costs of U...

Read Feature: Willie Mays Aikens

Posted on June 17, 2008
Willie Mays Aikens, former first baseman for the Kansas City Royals, made baseball history when he became the first player to have a pair of two-homer games in the 1980 World Series. Years later he made another kind of history when a longstanding addiction to cocaine ended his baseball career and ultimately led to a nearly 21-year sentence for selling crack cocaine to an undercover officer...

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Read Publication: Relief from the Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction: A State-By-State Resource Guide

Posted on June 16, 2008
A collection of individual state documents that can be downloaded; includes state law regarding loss of rights due to a felony conviction, process of restoration, pardon/expungement information, and contact information of corresponding agencies. (documents updated as developments warrant) Posted Date:6/16/2008 11:26:49 AM

Read News: Report Finds Racial Disparities in the Severity of Punishment

Posted on June 15, 2008
"We are generating more violence and criminality in our effort to interrupt it," said Douglas W. Nelson, president and chief executive of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which just released its annual “Kids Count” study. The study found the nation's juvenile justice system doles out harsher punishment to black and Latino youths, locks up thousands of children for relatively minor offenses and ultimately makes them more dangerous...

Read News: Nineteenth Annual "Kids Count Data Book" Released

Posted on June 12, 2008
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 19th annual Kids Count Data Book is now available. The annual Data Book is a national and state-by-state profile of the well-being of America’s children that seeks to enrich discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all kids...

Read News: Lessons learned: From prison in R.I. to Yale

Posted on June 11, 2008
Andres Idarraga has been accepted to Yale Law School – ten years after the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institution accepted him into its system for a cocaine conviction. Idarraga, who graduated this year from Brown University, has since become a prominent advocate for restoring the right to vote to thousands of persons disenfranchised in Rhode Island because of a felony conviction...

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on June 05, 2008
Ghana: Ensuring Inmates Are Able to Exercise Existing Voting Rights Puerto Rico: Incarcerated and Politically Active Mississippi: Individual Re-enfranchisement Bills Must be Sought for Each Citizen National: National Black Police Association Supports Automatic Vote Restoration with Resolution West Virginia: Why Not? Posted Date:6/5/2008 5:19:37 PM

Read News: Former Royal Willie Mays Aikens to be Released from Prison Today

Posted on June 04, 2008
"I've always had hope something would happen with my case," said Willie Mays Aikens, former Kansas City Royals first baseman. Aikens is schedudled to be released from prison today after having requested a reduced sentenced under the newly enacted retroactive crack cocaine sentencing guidelines adopted by the U...

Read Advocacy Material: Cracking Open

Posted on June 02, 2008
"Michael Short knows he was wrong to sell crack cocaine, but he questions whether he needed 15 years in prison to learn his lesson. Now some of the politicians who helped put him there are wondering, too." Posted Date: 6/2/2008 4:36:06 PM

Read News: Cracking Open

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on May 30, 2008
Georgia: A Dire Need to Define Crimes of Moral Turpitude Alabama: Rev. Kenneth Glasgow Honored for Restoration Work Virginia: Expedited Process Motivates Churches to Join Restoration Effort National: Federal Reform Bill Gets Support Before its Introduction Posted Date:5/30/2008 3:36:30 PM

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on May 22, 2008
Virginia: Cumbersome, ‘Horrible,’ and in Need of ReformKentucky: Left Out of History – Again Posted Date:5/22/2008 9:44:03 PM

Read News: A Second Chance

Posted on May 20, 2008
The New York Times editorial board encouraged Congress to appropriate the promised dollars toward the Second Chance Act, which was signed last month by President George W. Bush. The editorial points to successful parole-based, re-entry efforts in Texas, Illinois, and Kansas, which include drug treatment and rehabilitation services, and job training and placement...

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on May 15, 2008
National: The Association of Paroling Authorities International Approves of Re-enfranchisement Posted Date:5/15/2008 3:53:01 PM

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on May 08, 2008
National: ‘What If’ Disenfranchisement Was No More? Tennessee: Arrest for Voting Further Disenfranchises Woman Massachusetts: ‘The More We Imprison, the Less We Vote’ Posted Date:5/8/2008 5:12:57 PM

Read News: U.S. Prison Policy Needs Reform

Posted on May 06, 2008
Citing that the United States currently accounts for approximately 25% of the global prison population, an article on Forbes.com lists various reasons why the U.S. has a high incarceration rate which includes "tough" federal and state sentencing guidelines...

Read Publication: Disparity By Geography: The War on Drugs in America's Cities

Posted on May 05, 2008
Documents the growth in drug arrests at the city-level between 1980 and 2003 and the role of the "war on drugs" in expanding racial disparity in the criminal justice system. The extreme variations in arrest rates among cities raise critical questions about the effect of local policy decisions, not overall drug use rates, in driving law enforcement patterns...

Read News: ?Drug War? Unjust to African Americans: Two Reports Detail Racial Disparity in Arrests and Imprisonment

Posted on May 05, 2008
The Sentencing Project’s newest study, Disparity by Geography: The War on Drugs in America’s Cities, is the first city-level analysis of drug arrests, examining data from 43 of the nation’s largest cities between 1980-2003. The study found that since 1980, the rate of drug arrests in American cities for African Americans increased by 225%, compared to 70% among whites...

Read News: Fixing our criminal sentencing system

Posted on April 28, 2008
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has earmarked $1.4 billion in the proposed 2009 budget for the sheriffs' departments and the Department of Correction – the bulk of it going toward incarceration, according a Boston Globe op-ed by David W. White Jr...

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on April 25, 2008
Pennsylvania: Voter Education Still Necessary on 8-year-old Reform North Carolina: "Proud to Vote"Virginia: Legislators, Community Gather to Discuss Right to Vote National: Disenfranchisement Reform in Need of More Advocacy Posted Date:4/25/2008 3:26:06 PM

Read News: Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations

Posted on April 24, 2008
In the New York Times’ continuing series addressing America’s “unique” justice system a new article states that U.S. sentencing practices are harsher than most other countries. The Times reported: “the United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population...

Read News: Representative Miller (D-CA) Introduces Bill to Eliminate Abuse and Neglect in Private Residential Treatment Centers for Youth

Posted on April 24, 2008
The House Committee on Education and Labor held a full committee hearing today to discuss claims of abuse and misleading advertising by private residential treatment centers around the nation. In the second hearing on the topic in the past 6 months, members heard from the Government Accountability Office about misleading statements made to parents by treatment center staff about curriculum, diet, health insurance coverage, and accessibility to their children while housed at the center...

Read Advocacy Material: President Bush Signs Second Chance Bill

Posted on April 18, 2008
President George W. Bush today signed into law the Second Chance Act of 2007 – legislation inspired by his 2004 State of the Union address – which authorizes $362 million to expand assistance for people currently incarcerated, those returning to their communities after incarceration, and children with parents in prison...

Read Publication: INCARCERATION LIMITED AS A CRIME CONTROL STRATEGY

Posted on April 18, 2008
In an opinion piece published in the annual report of the Open Society Foundation of South Africa, Marc Mauer cautions policymakers to avoid the U.S. model of massive prison expansion as a means of coping with the nation’s crime problem. 1 page Posted Date:4/2/2008 4:00:00 PM

Read News: Iowa Governor Signs Nation's First Racial Impact Sentencing Bill

Posted on April 18, 2008
Less than one year after a national report found Iowa prisons and jails maintain the highest rate of racial disparity in the nation, Governor Chet Culver today signed legislation requiring examination of the racial and ethnic impact of all new sentencing laws prior to passage...

Read Publication: Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in The United States

Posted on April 01, 2008
Overview of felony disenfranchisement policy and implications, includes state-by-state table illustrating the categories of persons disenfranchised due to a felony conviction. 3 pages Posted Date:4/1/2008 1:13:05 PM

Read Advocacy Material: Iowa House Approves Examination of Racial/Ethnic Impact of Sentencing Changes

Posted on March 27, 2008
By a 99-0 vote, Iowa’s House passed legislation that requires lawmakers to review, prior to approval, the effect new sentencing policies may have on minority communities. The Des Moines Register credits a report by The Sentencing Project, which found Iowa incarcerates blacks at a rate 13 times that of whites, for helping instigate the legislative response...

Read News: Disenfranchisement News

Posted on March 27, 2008
Kentucky: Easing Disenfranchisement Barriers Florida: Minority Vote Sought After, More Support for Ex-Felons’ Rights Mississippi: Legislature Compromises, Moves toward Felony Re-enfranchisement Posted Date:3/27/2008 8:17:03 PM

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