Senator Jim Webb’s “National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009” addresses African-American incarceration rates
Categories: African-American, Featured, Justice/Law Enforcement, Politics and Elections
Written By: Shawn Williams
The American Criminal Justice System is broken. I would hope that no one would argue that. Those of us who have watched our uncles, cousins, brothers, sons, fathers and black males in general become part disproportionate part of this system know that an overhaul is needed. Since the so-called “War on Drugs” the United States has destroyed many black families by penalizing drug offenders in the African-American community more severely that others.
The only way to really impact and this flawed system is through policy change. I thank Dallas South Family members L.W. and The Seedplanter for making me aware of proposed legislation from Virginia Senator Jim Webb that is looking to address some of the ills that plague the American Criminal Justice System.
Last month on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Webb introduced the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009. According to Webb, the goal is to create a national commission with an 18-month timeline that will help “deliver us from a situation that has evolved over time where we are putting far too many
of the wrong people into prison and we are still not feeling safer in our neighborhoods…” Here are some key elements from Webb’s speech to the Senate:
See the Senators who co-sponsored with Webb
Senator Jim Webb (D-VA)
I am pleased today to introduce a piece of legislation designed to establish a National Criminal Justice Commission. I do so with, at the moment, twelve cosponsors, including our Majority Leader, the Chairman and the Ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Chairman and the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs and other members of our leadership.
Let’s start with a premise that I don’t think a lot of Americans are aware of. We have 5% of the world’s population; we have 25% of the world’s known prison population. We have an incarceration rate in the United States, the world’s greatest democracy, that is five times as high as the average incarceration rate of the rest of the world. There are only two possibilities here: either we have the most evil people on earth living in the United States; or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice.
I want to emphasize to my colleagues and to others that the issues that we face with respect to criminal justice are not overall racial issues. In many cases these issues involve people’s ability to have proper counsel and other issues, but there are stunning statistics with respect to drugs that we all must come to terms with.
African-Americans are about 12% of our population; contrary to a lot of thought and rhetoric, their drug use rate in terms of frequent drug use rate is about the same as all other elements of our society, about 14%. But they end up being 37% of those arrested on drug charges, 59% of those convicted, and 74% of those sentenced to prison by the numbers that have been provided by us.
We are also, for a complex set of reasons, warehousing the mentally ill in our prisons. With four times as many mentally ill in our prisons opposed to institutions, the main point for all of us to consider is that these people who are in prison are not receiving the kind of treatment they would need in order to remedy the disabilities that have brought them to that situation.
Excerpts of Senator Jim Webb’s Floor Speech
The National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009
March 26, 2009
ColorofChange.org has orgainzed a campaign to get behind Senator Webb’s proposed legislation which starts by thanking him for his efforts. Their message to members is as follows:
When it comes to issues plaguing Black and low-income communities, a White senator from the South is the last person we’d expect to go out on a limb and sound the alarm. Senator Jim Webb from Virginia just did exactly that when he boldly called out the over-imprisonment of Black folks and the serious problems with our prison system.
Now it’s up to us to seize the moment and create the pressure necessary to achieve true reform.
The first step is publicly thanking Senator Webb. Our praise will show other politicians that when they take risks and step out on critical issues like prison reform, we will have their backs. It will also show that everyday people stand with Webb and are serious about this issue. Please join us, and ask your friends and family to do the same: Thank Jim Webb for his criminal justice legislation.
The ColorOfChange.org team
Many civil rights leaders in this country have called for legislation dealing with the criminal industrial complex in this country. I would expect these leaders and other organizations to join Color of Change in supporting this legislative act by Senator Webb. I already have and encourage each of you to do so as well.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:00 am
I admire Jim Webb immensely and believe his efforts to highlight this issue is a much needed step. There is not a day that goes by….or a week…that I…a Dallas native who grew up under the 35 year reign of terror known as the Henry Wade years…that I don’t thank God for Craig Watkins. Amen, Brother!
April 16th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Don’t get me wrong any illegal drug use/ drug selling is terrible and I know it happens today, but I’m wondering if it is as bad now as it was in 80s and early 90’s? It does not seem like it dominates the news like it did back then, but maybe we’ve just become desensitized to it in the 24 hour news cycle. I haven’t noticed an obvious “crack head” on the street in quite a while. Maybe they don’t do crack now and they’re doing something else now. My cousin says she quit a few years back.
I have noticed that drug use has made it into rual communities where it wasn’t in the 80s. My grandfather always said “stay away from them city folk, they live in a concrete jungle”
Personally, as a 36 yo brother, the news of the harsh punishments along with many other factors of life (mainly my mother) made me afraid of being anywhere near drug dealers, users or the police. I recall somtin about ” they all going to hell, jail or both” ~ funny how that stuff sticks in your head.
If drug use / drug selling has declined, why do you think it is and do you think the harsh punishments had anything to do with it?
April 26th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
I think its about time that people are finally starting to speak up and stand up to the criminal justice system. It really is sad and its nice to see somebody of power stand up for us in a currupt system were we, the little people seem to have no control. I am part of a family who has recently been torn apart by the unfair prison sentence. A young black 29 year old DEDICATED FATHER just sentenced to 25 years in prison for conpiracy to traffic(sell) and ounce of cocaine. dont get me wrong i dont condone the use of sale of drugs however this man has NO priors, hes never been in trouble before but his life has just been shattered and taken away from him. He has been taken away from his mother and his children and left his little brother terrified wondering whats in store for him as a young black male growing up in a still racist community. Now im not the type to always play the race card but for this man to get such an unfair sentence by the same judge who just a few months back gave another man only probabtion for molesting his 3 yr old niece and a (white) woman just a couple years for DUI manslaughter somethings not right here. Something has to be done i just pray to God that it is done before it to late.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:48 am
The system clearly stinks. The war on drugs is a hoax. The government has helped keep the cost of drugs on the black market very high thanks to their war on drugs.
Felony records reduce citizens to less then illegal aliens. An illegal alien who finally gets a green card will have more opportunities and chances of a better life then a USA citizen with a felony record.
A Police nation with more money spent on weapons and high technology to catch the bad guys would be better off spent on drug programs and job training. Most small petty drug dealers would jump at a chance to make a decent wage.
President Obama while in office you should do something to help change this system instead of making more prison space and creating more felons.
October 25th, 2009 at 11:45 am
It’s about time! What is appalling is that the very people who hand down these unfair sentences either dont care or they are not intelligent enough to say this is wrong. Every judge, every justice spends at least five hours a day in the courtroom. Not every hour is spent on sentencing, but enough time is spent that would allow any one with a high school education to realize what they are doing is wrong. How can any judge not notice that the majority people he/she sends to prison and jail over and over and over again are poor, black or hispanic, and those with mental illnesses. As an American I am ashamed of our judges, they are the ones who are experts on fairness and impartiality. So how can anyone in their positions not notice the disparity of our system. Do judges actually believe that wealthy and/or white people do not commit crimes? It is never questioned why heavy continous police patrol is the norm for poor Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Never has our nation witnessed heavy constant patrolling of white upper and middle class neighborhoods. Never has our nation witnessed white people in newer model and expensive vehicles be pulled over and harrased. on a constant basis. Yes sometimes it happens, but numberwise their is no comparison. The class of people that fill up the prisons and jails know that daring to speak out against police and judicial injustices could turn into a beating, public humiliation, an arrest and jail or prison time after the beating. Do all of Americas judges and justices really not notice the injustices. Or is their salary and upper standing in the community more important than peoples lives? Do they think that the people they sentence dont have children or parents. Of course they know, they are highly educated and they see it in their courtrooms every single day. As long as its not their family or friends spending nine years in prison because of a snitch that gets to commit any and all the crimes he wants. Its become so easy for police, the snitch has more immunity than the police, and the snitch still gets to use illegal drugs and commit crimes. All judges know the truth and they sit there and allow it and believe their silence is not noticed. What a shame for a country that is supposed to be the icon of freedom and the revolutionaries against oppression and slavery. Nothing has changed except that now we dont allow slavery, why should we when we can send them to prisons and pretend its their fault.
January 9th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
I hear what you say, but can we believe it???????? I sent you a letter about six months ago regarding my son. We lived in Hanover County and were under the “haven of the devil” Judge John Alderman. I cannot call him “The Honorable,” as he is not deserving of this honor. I asked to meet with you. Sent you all sorts of correspondence, called your secretary, whom never returned my calls. I remember, very well, reading in the RTD that you were well noted for not answering your correspondence.
I have to deal with this, as hard as it is, however. on another note, you, Jim Webb, had better run like hell from the “Health Bill,” no matter what Obama has promised you, as, Virginia’s, we, will not forget. Senator Webb., you can take this to the bank and “bet on it.” What have you done for this state? Talk, like, maybe, Obama. We are good people, just frustrated with the system. I pray that you will take another turn.