Why should you support the #SentencingReform and corrections Act of 2015?

Today I’m in Washington D.C., but will only be there for today and tomorrow. I’m here as part of a larger effort to urge our government representatives to support S. 2123, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015. This bill would bring meaningful reforms to the overwhelming problem of mass incarceration that plagues our society. Without fail, when I go and speak to local churches, conferences, and colleges about race/racism, you can expect that at some point I will address the criminalization of poor black and brown people for nonviolent drug offenses, creating a caste system in our judicial and prison system, as well as in the broader society. What frequently results in only a slap on the wrist, if not something completely overlooked when a white youth breaks drug laws, often has long term devastating consequences for black and brown youth breaking the exact same drug laws. Though this has been an issue for a long time, and many scholars and activists have written and spoken on it for quite a while, the movement responding to these problems have found new momentum in congruency with Michelle Alexander’s mainstream treatment of the subject in her book The New Jim Crow.[1]

I won’t bother repeat her analysis here, or that of others. Nor my own personal experience and observation, having seen family and friends caught up by the forces of black and brown criminalization, and pulled in by the prison industrial complex. However, if you haven’t read on the subject before, stop what you are doing and either go to the library or bookstore and start reading. Michelle Alexander’s book is a helpful and easy starting point. If you are ready to go deeper, consider exploring prison abolishment resources from scholar activists like Angela Davis who have been writing and speaking on this subject for quite a while, or dive into theological frameworks for thinking about our prison industrial complex beyond punitive goals and towards a restorative justice lens in line with Jesus-shaped faith and commitments, which can be found in James Logan’s Good Punishment?.[2]