Yearly Archives: 2017
Convener’s Corner | November 2017
November 3, 2017 Despite Gross Disparities Between Opioid and Crack Treatment, No Funding for Restorative Justice“There’s racial disparities here. When there was a drug issue in the African American community we were prosecuted, we were put in jail, children were put in foster care, families were ripped apart. It was treated like a criminal justice […]
Tell Congress to stop militarizing police!
Contact your Senators right now and tell them to support the Stop Militarizing Our Law Enforcement Act. If passed, this bipartisan bill, S. 1856, would prohibit the federal transfer of militarized equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies – including MRAPs, drones, and armored vehicles (This prohibition only applies to offensive equipment and does […]
Convener’s Corner | August 2017
August 25, 2017 Trump Pardoned Arpaio – What we gonna do???Excuse my language, but I am pissed. Not because Trump pardoned Arpaio — the Executive has an unfettered constitutional right to grant clemency to whoever s/he wishes. I am outraged because we as a progressive community are too often stymied by what the conservative and […]
Convener’s Corner | July 2017
July 14, 2017 Who is the Justice Roundtable? What do you do? What happens at your Assemblies and Meetings? As convener of the Roundtable, I get these questions all the time. Now, you can see for yourself The Justice Roundtable Assembly in action. We are on a roll! The livestream video from our last quarterly […]
Emergency June 6 Action: Parole Justice Call-In Day and Social Media Blast
The Board of Parole currently has seven vacant seats and five Commissioners who are up for reappointment. These five commissioners whose terms have expired or are about to expire (James Ferguson, W. William Smith, Kevin Ludlow, Julie Smith and Otis Cruse) are mostly white people from rural and upstate NY with law enforcement and prosecutorial backgrounds. They have for years, and […]
Sessions: Rescind Your Draconian Memo
Today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions called on his prosecutors to pursue harsh sentences for people charged with nonviolent drug offenses. Sessions’ memo rescinds policy instituted by former Attorney General Eric Holder, which avoided draconian mandatory minimums for many drug offenses. This is a disastrous move that will increase the prison population, worsen racial disparities in […]
Convener’s Corner | May 2017
May 12, 2017 New DOJ Guidance to Prosecutors Fundamentally Flawed Attorney General Sessions has dusted off the atrocious Ashcroft sentencing memo from 14 years ago, which directed prosecutors to charge arrestees with the most serious provable offense, and resurrected it as Trump’s bid to obliterate Smart on Crime sentencing policies from the Obama Administration. The […]
Help the Washington, D.C. Mayor’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs Get Funding
There has been an ongoing effort this budget season to expand funding for the Washington, D.C. Mayor’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs (MORCA). We are asking DC Council to fund two full-time case managers and a consultant to help MORCA develop a strategic plan. The need for staff and a plan of action is even […]
Convener’s Corner | March 31, 2017
March 31, 2017 Congratulations Vanita! As founder and convener of the Justice Roundtable, I am thrilled with the announcement of Vanita Gupta as President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Leadership Conference Education Fund. I smile when I think of Vanita as a new young lawyer at the […]
Convener’s Corner | March 14, 2017
March 14, 2017 My reflection: From his 1980s–style “tough on crime” and “law and order” bombast, his selection of the controversial Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, and his criminal punishment-focused Executive Orders, the handwriting is on the wall that we will likely see a return to the flawed policies of the past which resulted in […]
Convener’s Corner | February 15, 2017
Feb. 15, 2017 reprinting – FEATURE HILL ARTICLE ON ACLU’S JESSELYN MCCURDY, a stalwart leader with the Justice Roundtable coalition! “In Civil Liberties Fight, Never Say Never” The Hill, by Megan Wilson, 2/14/17 Jesselyn McCurdy still remembers the call. “Clarence is going to come home,” a voice said. It was the attorney for Clarence Aaron, […]
Convener’s Corner | February 6, 2017
Feb. 6, 2017 Criminal Justice Reform Must Include Life Without Parole Sentences The recently released report from The Sentencing Project, “Delaying a Second Chance: The Declining Prospects for Parole on Life Sentences,” stresses that “thus far, criminal justice reform has largely excluded people in prison with life sentences. This growing “lifer” population both illustrates and […]
Convener’s Corner | January 2017
Jan. 17, 2017 As one Administration comes to a close and another prepares to assume the helm, Justice Roundtable takes a moment to thank the outgoing chair of the United States Sentencing Commission for her leadership in moving issues of federal sentencing reform. Re: Chief Judge Patti B. Saris’ Outstanding Service to the United States […]