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| Sweeping changes sought in drug laws, sentencing |
| By Trenton Times |
| Published: 07/02/2004 |
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Nothing short of sweeping changes in the state's drug laws, sentencing guidelines and support services offered to inmates inside New Jersey prisons and upon their release will fix the system's stark racial and ethnic disparities, according to a report issued last week. Eight of 10 New Jersey inmates are either black or Latino, though they make up only 27 percent of the state's overall population, according to the report, a product of community activist organizations working with the state. Participants in the New Jersey Community and Corrections Working Summit said their recommendations will help address "the crisis in racial disparity in New Jersey's criminal justice system." The report, through its many recommendations, argues against the notion that the high percentage of minorities behind bars is a fair outcome of a blind justice system. Comparing incarceration rates of whites and blacks, New Jersey has the most lopsided record in the nation, the report states. It notes the longstanding, but now abandoned, policy of New Jersey State Police to target minorities for car stops and searches. The summit and the report were sponsored by the Hispanic Directors of New Jersey, the New Jersey Black Issues Convention, the state Department of Corrections and the New Jersey Parole Board. Failure to reintegrate ex-cons into society is expensive, participants said. It costs about $28,000 a year to incarcerate an individual, the report states. Far fewer white suburbanites are punished under school-zone laws because there is so much space between such zones outside of cities, the report said. D'Amico applauded passage of a law that creates a commission to review the state's criminal sentencing laws for the first time in 25 years. The parole board is implementing graduated responses for parole violations, D'Amico said. "Rather than a `one-size fits all, lock 'em up' approach, the board has developed and is utilizing a response system which is focused on increasing public safety through coaching and sanctioning parolees to change their behavior rather than reincarcerating (them)." The report also called for wider use of drug courts that divert offenders from prison. In January 2003, 35 percent of the 26,387 people behind bars in New Jersey were there for possession, sale and distribution of drugs. Nationally, the figure is 21 percent. Former inmates who hope to turn over a new leaf upon release often are thwarted by their inability to land a job, said former inmate Luis Rivera, who works for the Hispanic Directors Association. Currently, 13 states deny felons the right to vote for life. Thirty-two disenfranchise all felons during the time they are on parole and 28 deny the vote to those on probation, according to the report. A total of 1.4 million black men cannot vote nationwide as a result of felony convictions, it states. |
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