Category: Criminal Justice Reform

UULMNJ Statement on the Marijuana Laws

by UU FA Office

NJUMR logo

 

The Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry has joined New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform. The board released a statement supporting the decriminalization/legalization of marijuana at the 2015 Spring Plenary in Montclair. UULMNJ will be joining forces with ACLU-NJ, NAACP, Garden State Equality, and others to pursue this important social justice issue. To learn more visit www.NJUMR.org. Read the UULMNJ statement below or download the PDF to share with your congregation.

 

The UULMNJ Statement on Marijuana Laws

UULMNJ is intending to take a stand on the decriminalization/legalization of Marijuana. This is a bold step for a faith community. We take it with considerable forethought and awareness of its implications for our society. UULMNJ does not endorse the recreational use of marijuana, just as it would not endorse the recreational use of tobacco or alcohol. The UULMNJ position is based on the concern for social justice. The current drug policy laws and the resulting incarcerations for minor drug possession adversely affects life opportunities for many young people, and especially young black men.

The taxation and regulation of marijuana is not a new issue for Unitarian Universalists. In 1970, the Unitarian Universalist Association passed a general resolution calling for the legalization of marijuana. The resolution stated that the drug laws are making criminals of and causing undue and unjust punishment to many persons who have no criminal intent in the use of marijuana; and are being used as political weapons against those who dissent in politics or lifestyle from the accepted norms. It states that no reliable research on the effects of marijuana has shown its use to be as hazardous to the public or the individual user as the use of tobacco, alcohol or many other stimulants and depressants legally available to the public.

Now fast-forward 45 years. Many things have changed. We have learned that marijuana has some significant medical use in controlling seizures and pain. We have learned that a number of states have either decriminalized or legalized the use of the substance, allowing for significant regulation and taxation. Sadly, though, we now have documented the hundreds of thousands of lives that have been ruined because of arrest and incarceration due to minor drug charges. The cruel realities of these minor drug arrests have limited employment, education, family relationships and future opportunity for those who have been caught in these draconian policies. And people of color have particularly suffered.

Marijuana Reform is fast becoming a central focus of current efforts to dismantle the mass incarceration/”New Jim Crow” system and its widespread destructive effects on society and the lives of millions. In 2013 there were almost 700,000 marijuana arrests in the U. S., more than 45% of all drug arrests and more than for all violent crimes combined. This is a major part of the mass incarceration system which makes us, by far, the largest imprisonment country in the world. Criminalization of marijuana, and resulting incarceration and stigmatization, cripples lives and serves to increase rather than constructively address problems of drug use.

Despite this draconian and disproportionate system of alleged justice, marijuana continues to be the most widely used illicit drug in America, admittedly used at one time or another, by more than 114 million Americans. The true indictment of this system is the fact that marijuana arrests disproportionately target and affect people of color by rates nearly four times greater than others despite data showing very similar usage rates across racial and ethnic lines. The State of New Jersey typically accounts for more than 20,000 possession arrests annually with some counties showing arrest disparities of 4 or 5 times greater for people of color.

Eighteen states and Washington D. C. have enacted or initiated approaches to decriminalize marijuana possession. Five of these have lifted the prohibition of marijuana altogether with various approaches to control and regulation. About two dozen countries have taken steps toward drug decriminalization and legalization with constructive programs most notably Portugal, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina. This experience has demonstrated societal benefits and little or no increase in drug use or crime.

Decriminalization along with treatment programs when properly implemented can

  • Substantially reduce arrests and incarceration and the crippling effects of a criminal record,
  • Increase drug treatment and public health and safety,
  • Reduce criminal victimization of people of color,
  • Reduce criminal justice and incarceration costs and make funds available for needed social programs,
  • Help redirect law enforcement efforts to prevent serious and violent crimes,
  • Improve relations between law enforcement and the communities.

The call of our faith communities to demand regulation and taxation of marijuana is a call for justice. It is a call for compassion. The UULMNJ supports measures directed to eliminate criminal penalties for marijuana possession and to a broad expansion of harm reduction and drug treatment programs. In addition we support a serious examination and discussion of regulatory alternatives to drug prohibition to address the major drug related societal ills not alleviated by simple decriminalization.   The New Jersey Unitarian Universalist Congregations are invited and urged to join us in this effort and discussion to eliminate this obstacle to social progress.

May 27, 2015

For more information, contact:

Rev. Craig Hirshberg, Executive Director

Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey

Director@UULMNJ.org

 Download this Statement as a PDF

Gov. Christie Must Sign S2381 and Save Hundreds of New Jerseyans from Heroin Addiction

by UU FA Office

Heroin-Related Overdose Deaths per 100,000(1)

UPDATE: Governor Christie signed this bill into law on August 10, 2015!

According to CDC director Thomas Friedan, “heroin use is increasing rapidly across all demographics.” Roughly 1 in 50 heroin users will die of overdose each year. In New Jersey, death by heroin overdose is more common than homicide, suicide, or even death due to car accidents. The numbers are staggering. In 2013 there were 741 heroin deaths in New Jersey, a number triple the national rate. The number continues to rise with 781 deaths in New Jersey in 2014. And in Camden and Atlantic Counties the number of heroin overdoses was greater than the number of deaths due to flu or pneumonia combined. But why New Jersey?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has found that heroine is being trafficked heavily through Port Elizabeth and Port Newark. Recent tests done by the Drug Enforcement Administration found that the types of heroin being sold and consumed in New Jersey are more pure than samples found anywhere in the US.

The Director of the White House Office on National Drug Control Policy believes that “Access to medication-assisted treatment can mean [the] difference between life and death.” Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is the gold standard for treating opioid dependence. Currently, most drug courts in New Jersey do not allow drug court participants to use MAT, even if it is recommended by a treatment professional or doctor. Drug court participants who are on MAT are usually required to discontinue their treatment in order to “graduate” or complete their drug court program. Demanding that an individual discontinue legitimate, necessary medication that supports their recovery and progress is morally, legally and medically unacceptable.

On June 25, 2015 a bill that is part of a broader package to address New Jersey’s addiction problem passed both houses. Bill S2381/A3723 would allow those who are in the special probation drug court programs to graduate with medication-assisted treatments, defined as the use of any medications approved by the federal FDA to treat substance use disorders, in combination with behavioral therapy and counseling. This bill clarifies that any urine test for drug or alcohol use conducted in the course of the drug court program which shows a positive result for an individual using medication-assisted treatment would not constitute a program violation unless the positive test result is for substances unrelated to the individual’s medication-assisted treatment. This change impacts incarceration and recidivism for drug violations.

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The bill was approved by the Assembly with a vote of 76-0 and the Senate with a vote of 39-0. It now sits on the Governor’s desk, awaiting his signature. Christie has spoken out in favor of addiction treatment for heroin in the past. “I think what we’ve seen over the last 30 years is it just hasn’t worked,” he said. “And there are some people who make one bad choice to try drugs one time and their particular chemistry leads them to be an addict from the minute they try it. So we need to treat it as a disease. And not having mandatory incarceration for non-violent offenders but having mandatory treatment is something that’s going to yield a much greater result for society in general and for those individuals in particular.“ In 2014 Christie expanded a statewide Narcan program which equipped thousands of first responders with the ability to administer a life-saving antidotal medication that can reverse the effects of a heroin overdose. While the governor campaigns for the presidency we need to remind him that he has a job to do here in New Jersey. Write Governor Christie and urge him to sign S2381/A3723, keeping addicted people out of prison and on the road to recovery.

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UULMNJ Joins the Million People’s March

by UU FA Office

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UULMNJ is co-sponsoring the Million People’s March Against Police Brutality, Racial Injustice, and Economic Inequality. The march is Saturday, July 25, at 12:00 noon, beginning at the Lincoln Monument at the intersection of West Market Street and Springfield Avenue in Newark, New Jersey. This event is organized by the People’s Organization for Progress.  Flyers and additional information are being sent to your congregational liaisons and through our mailings. Bring a bus full from your congregation.  This is an excellent opportunity for UU’s across the state to stand up together in body and spirit in support for racial justice.   Don your “Standing on the Side of Love” shirts and come march behind our UULMNJ “Black Lives Matter” banner as we live out our values together.  We hope to see you there.  

Register today to:

March button

Here is important information if you will be joining us in Newark:

  • The March will begin with speakers at 12:00. The march will step off at 1:30 PM. It will be followed by more speakers at the end. If you have trouble standing for long periods of time and don’t intend to march, you may want to bring a portable folding chair;
  • The actual march will be 3 miles in length —1.5 miles to the Federal Building at 970 Broad Street and back.  You can join all or half of the event or listen to the speakers;
  • If you are taking the train, the site is approximately a 6 block walk from Penn Station;
  • Another option is to park at the Grove Street Park n Ride lot in Bloomfield then take the Light Rail from Grove Street to Washington Street. This station is two blocks from the monument. Daily parking rates at the Grove lot are $2. Light rail fair is $1.50 adult and $0.70 senior one way;
  • If you would like to march with UU’s around the state, we will meet on the corner of UNIVERSITY AVE. and WEST MARKET STREET. We will begin gathering at 11:00. We will have the UULMNJ Black Lives Matter banner and signs for you to carry. Please bring paper tube rolls (like from wrapping paper. you can also create these by tightly rolling a piece of poster board) to post and carry the signs. Also bring water, sun block if needed, and sustenance;
  • If you plan to drive there is paid parking throughout the neighborhood. Bus parking has been designated in Lot A on West Market Street. To get to the neighborhood using a GPS system use 303 University Avenue (Essex County College) or 50 West Market Street (Veterans Courthouse).
  • Just a reminder, this is a grass roots effort.  There are no corporate sponsors or celebrities.  It is truly power to the people by the people.  Accordingly, there will be a voluntary collection taken before the march to help defray costs.  So if someone approaches you with a bucket for contributions, please help out.

MPM Area Map (700x541) (2)

Download Map as a PDF

The purpose of the march is to draw attention to the problem of police brutality; to demand an end to the murder of unarmed people, the use of excessive force, and the violation of people’s constitutional rights by police; to demand justice for the victims of police brutality; to demand fundamental and significant changes in the polices, practices, procedures, laws, structures and institutions related to policing and the criminal justice system in order to prevent these abuses by the police; to demand an end to racial injustice and economic inequality which are root causes of police brutality and to highlight the interrelationship of this struggle with those related to employment, housing, healthcare, education, war, and other important issues; and to help build a mass movement in this country that can exert the political and social pressure necessary to bring about the positive societal changes we seek.

The march is organized by People’s Organization For Progress (POP), a grassroots volunteer group that works for racial, social, economic justice and peace. It has been endorsed by community, labor, student, and progressive organizations. More than 40 groups and leaders have endorsed the event thus far. Recently, a press conference was held where the march was endorsed by Ras Baraka, Mayor of the City of Newark, and Dr. Cornel West.

“We’re trying to assert our humanity. If you look at what happened in Baltimore, it’s appropriate that the march is not just about police brutality, but it’s also about economic inequality, and inequality, period.” – Ras Baraka [read more]

If you are planning to attend the march please go to the March Facebook page. Please “Join” it, “Invite Friends” to join it, and share it. Please click the links below to see articles and video clips from our most recent press conference.

Planning for the march takes place at POP meetings every Thursday, 6:30 p.m. at Abyssinian Baptist Church,224 West Kinney Street, Newark, New Jersey. I invite you and members of your organization to attend.

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UULMNJ Board Statement on Dismantling Racism

by UU FA Office

Unitarian Universalists have long been spiritually and morally committed to the elimination of racism and oppression.  We have a long history of coming forward to answer the call for racial justice, and UUs have shed their blood in these struggles.  In this we are motivated by the moral imperative of our covenant to affirm and promote the principles that are the uniting basis of our faith community.

  • The inherent worth and dignity of every person
  • Justice, equity and compassion in human relations

The work to eliminate racism continues to be a litmus test of the strength of our principles and the authenticity of our faith.

The appearance and practice of racism in our society has in many ways radically changed, yet its basic manifestations remain the same.  The illusion of a “color blind” society after the victories of the great civil rights movement and the historic election of an African American president has fully dissolved.  Even though attention is being paid to the continuing epidemic of unpunished killings of people of color by police, it took a series of increasingly disturbing incidents before anyone paid attention to a long-established pattern of violence. This demonstrates that we have far to go to address the problems of racism.  While it could be unfair to compare police killings to lynchings, the simple fact is that the rate of such killings in the last 15 years matches or exceeds the rate of some 5,000 recorded lynchings between 1882 and 1968. About 60 of these have been recorded to be of victims while in police custody. Currently the rate of police officer killings of people of color is reported to be at a rate of about two or more per week in the United States.  The divide that exists between the criminal justice system and people of color is not an accident. It is a direct result of institutional racism.

This seemingly easy and all-too-common resort to lethal force in the moment of confrontation between police and persons — usually men of color — is only the most brutal aspect of the “New Jim Crow”.  To the cry ”Black Lives Matter” we hear the casual and cynical reply “All Lives Matter.”   The problem with proclaiming that all lives matter is that it denies the particular need to focus on black lives.  Fundamentally, until our society accepts that black lives matter, the call that all lives matter is simply a denial of reality based on the limited experience of privileged people.

A basic condition of American racism is that the realities of life of people of color are not known well enough.  In all aspects of American life, already drowning in inequality, people of color, as a group, continue to be victimized in the denial of human and civil rights, employment and income, health, reproductive services and life expectancy, wealth accumulation and home ownership, and in de facto residential and educational inequality and continued segregation. African American author Neely Fuller, Jr., has written,

“No major problem that exists between the people of the known universe can be eliminated until racism is eliminated.”

Racism continues today to be a key, interactive force affecting all issues in the struggle for social progress. Issues of race and racism infect all issues that the UULMNJ and Unitarian Universalists feel strongly about. From Criminal Justice Reform and ending Mass Incarceration to Fair Housing, to Immigration, to Gun Violence, to Health Care, to the Impact of Environmental Degradation, it is crucial for us to recognize that people of privilege experience these issues in an utterly different way from people of color.  We must commit to expanding connection and understanding in order to unleash the full transformational power of a multicultural, multiracial alliance for meaningful and lasting change.

We continue to work to build the Beloved Community of all people, regardless of race, regardless of economic condition, regardless of sexual preference or gender identity, and of other seeming differences.  The differences among us are not categories for separation; they only serve to show the amazing variations and possibilities of the human race.   Seeing, understanding, and appreciating different realities and experiences is the major goal for achieving the transformational power of the Beloved Community.

The UULMNJ will continue to address the dismantling of racism on every issue and in all aspects of its activity.  We ask that the New Jersey Unitarian Universalist Congregations we serve join us in this endeavor.

The Boards of
The Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey
The Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey Public Policy Network
April 14, 2015

NJ Opportunity to Compete Act Now in Effect!

by UU FA Office

From Al Stawsky, chair of the Criminal Justice Reform: Ending the New Jim Crow Task Force:

The fruits of stubborn activism can be real changes in how society works!​

The NJISJ announces the effective start of the Opportunity to Compete Act. (‘Ban the Box’).  This gives those (many) with any kind of prison record a new chance to get gainful employment.  This is a meaningful step forward but just a step.  This example of real results may serve to activate others.

Bail Reform Measure Approved in New Jersey

by UU FA Office

Yesterday, New Jerseyans showed up at the polls in strong favor of reform to New Jersey’s broken bail system.  Thank you to all of those who worked tirelessly to get this Constitutional amendment passed. A special thanks to task force chair, Al Stawsky, for his passionate dedication to this issue.

The work is not done.  Our Ending the New Jim Crow task force continues to move forward.

Yesterday we proved Margaret Mead right, a small group of committed people affected change. Keep up the great work!

ACLU-NJ Releases Statement on Passage of Ballot Question 1.

Moral Monday March (October 27) Update

by UU FA Office

This coming Monday, October 27, 2014, is our Moral Monday March to Stop Mass Incarceration. We will gather at noon in front of the Trenton State House Steps. Here is an informational flyer [tt_vector icon=”fa-file-pdf-o”]  concerning important details about this Monday’s march, as well as a copy of the rally flyer [tt_vector icon=”fa-file-pdf-o”]. Please don’t miss this important event.

Action Alert October 15, 2014: Let’s Get People to the Moral Monday Rally on Oct. 27.

by UU FA Office
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Monday, October 27  is the Moral Monday Rally In Trenton  from 12-2 in support of Mass Incarceration Reform.  This is a call to get UU’s there.  Please consider joining  UULMNJ and other supporters across the state for this demonstration. Please talk this up with your congregations, include notices in your bulletins and distribute with e blasts.  The most recent flyer is here. This is the time to stand up with our coalition.

See you in Trenton on the 27th.

October Action Agenda – End Mass Incarceration

by UU FA Office

The month of October is a focus for activity to protest, educate and advocate for an end to this critical racial and social justice issue of our era.  There is still time to participate and join in.  Here are some of the activities planned by UUs and others.

  • October 12 – Silent March for Lives Lost, 11AM;  Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, 113 Cottage Place, Ridgewood.
  • October 13 – “Moral Monday Civil Disobedience Action” in solidarity with people of Ferguson; North Carolina NAACP; www.naacpnc.org.
  • October 16 – Canvassing training for Bail Reform vote on Question #1 on election day, 6:30-8:30, Camden Bible Tabernacle, 823 Elm St., Camden.
  • October 16 – Film “The House I Live In”, 7PM, the war on drugs and mass incarceration; Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Palisades, 228 Grand Ave., Englewood.
  • October 19 – Ed Barocas, legal Director of ACLU-NJ will speak at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Montclair, 9 and 11AM, 67 Church St., Montclair.
  • October 19 – Film “The House I Live In”, 12-2PM, UU Congregation of Princeton, 50 Cherry Hill Rd, Princeton.
  • October 19 – Book discussion and sale, “The Divide, American Injustice in the Age of Wealth Gap” by Matt Taibbi; 12:15-2:15PM, UU Congregation of Princeton, 50 Cherry Hill,  Robinson Lounge.
  • October 22 – Moral Monday National Day of Protest, New York City, 1:00PM,  march from Union Square to Times Square;
  • October 22 – March & Rally, Montclair, 4-8PM, march from Church St. Plaza to UUCMontclair at 67 Church St.
  • October 26 – Sunday Service in recognition of October Month of Resistance, 10:30-11:30AM, UUC of the Palisades, 228 Grand Avenue, Englewood.
  • October 27 – Moral Monday in Trenton, Rally at the New Jersey State House, 12-2PM,  125 W. State Street; join UU Congregations of NJ – Say No More! Stop the Mass Incarceration of Our People!

Visit www.stopmassincarceration.net to learn more about this national movement.