There were many important issues and panels at the the 57th annual Southern Christian Leadership Conference national conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but none was more crucial to the survival of our community than “Uniting for Progress and Opportunity: Bipartisan Efforts to Reform the Criminal Justice System” sponsored By Georgia-Pacific and Koch Industries. Most of us think of the need for prison reform in a very limited scope, including stop-and-frisk policies, driving while Black, and, of course, the ongoing shootings of unarmed Black men at the hands of policemen. All of these things are unfair and harm our community, but the devastating effects of the current system go far beyond those headlines. Even President Obama has called for an overhaul of our criminal justice system.
Mark Holden, general counsel of Koch Industries states that “The criminal justice system as it’s set up today is a major impediment to opportunity for disadvantaged and poor people. There is a two-tiered system where if you’re rich and guilty you get a better deal than if you’re poor and innocent.”
Along with Apple, the computer juggernaut, Koch Industries is a leader in removing prior convictions from stopping individuals from receiving a fair chance at employment. These two companies are at the front of a movement to “remove the box” (the “have you ever been convicted of a felony” box) on employment applications by implementing that change themselves.
NNPA president Dr. Ben Chavis, who served time in the ’70s as a member of the unjustly convicted Wilmington 10, commented that “the criminal system set up today as its presently organized, contributes to crime in America, deterioration of America, poverty in America, and destroy families in America.”
Ninety-five percent of all cases are settled with plea agreements because most indigent suspects are represented by overburdened public defenders who can’t possibly properly manage the large number of cases they’re assigned. The inability of ex-offenders to get jobs creates a pipeline back to prison. The need for reform is real and now. Please contact your local, state and federal officials to tell them that criminal justice reform is important to you. The movement has begun!
