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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE 4805 MT. HOPE DRIVE • BALTIMORE, MD 21215-3297 • (410) 580-5777 BENJAMIN TODD JEALOUS President & Chief Executive Officer LEON W RUSSELL Chairman, Resolutions Committee National Board of Directors ROSLYN M. BROCK Chairman, Board of Directors The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the nation’s oldest, largest and most widely-recognized grassroots based civil rights organization. Formed in 1909 by a multiracial group of progressive thinkers, the NAACP is a nonprofit organization established with the objective of ensuring the political, educational, social, and economic equality of people of color. For over 102 years, the NAACP has challenged this nation to uphold its promise of equal opportunity toward the goal of eliminating racial prejudice and removing all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes. In a process established by the NAACP Constitution, this resolution was adopted by the delegates to the 101st Annual Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, during the legislative session in July, 2010. It was subsequently ratified by the NAACP National Board of Directors at its meeting on October 15, 2010. This resolution is now the policy of the Association, and is “binding on the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, the Officers, and all units.” Seeking Abolishment or Repeal of “Mandatory Minimum Sentencing” WHEREAS, one in every 100 (2.4 million) adults are now confined in America’s jails and prisons, resulting in the United States with only 5% of the world’s population imprisoning one-quarter of the planet’s prisoners; and WHEREAS, our country chose the dubious distinction of being the leading numerical and per capita incarcerator in the history of the world, exceeding the combined prisoner populations of the 36 other next-ranking nations combined by nearly half-a-million citizens; and WHEREAS, prison growth is not driven by increases in crime or overall population growth, rather primarily from the political policy choices of enacting various Mandatory Minimum sentencing schemes; and WHEREAS, mandatory minimum sentencing laws were first enacted with New York State’s infamous Rockefeller Drug Laws in 1973, which required long mandatory minimum sentences even for first time, non-violent drug offenses extending to life in prison, and even recently modified leaving 10,000 such souls serving interminable terms; and WHEREAS, over the next two decades, the majority of states and federal governments enacted Truth-In-Sentencing (TIS) statutes, mandating that a minimum of 85% of – what were already the longest prison sentences in the world—their terms be served before release consideration; and WHEREAS, the cumulative result of these mandatory sentencing changes has been the tripling of the prison population from 1987 to 2007 and projected to grow another 200,000 over the next five years; and WHEREAS, the impact of these (particularly drug-focused) unjust and ineffective policies has been most devastating in low-income neighborhoods of color, deporting entire generations of young men and women, destroying whole communities through mass incarceration; and WHEREAS, by categorical example of this imbalanced (if not targeted) impact, AfricanAmericans compose 13% of those committing drug offenses, but represent 60% of those serving various forms of Mandatory Minimum sentences across the criminal justice spectrum; and WHEREAS, former-federal prosecutor and associate dean of George Washington University Law School, Paul Butler, stated in the Fall 2009 issue of The Crisis, ―That’s not only immoral, its crushing our families and neighborhoods.‖ THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP work toward the education of all citizens in recommending that the repeal of Mandatory Minimum (i.e., TIS) sentences be a major accountability issue for elected officials/candidates who seek support from the disproportionally-impacted communities of color; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP direct its National Office to use its prestige and resources to repeal the Mandatory Minimum sentences; and BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP direct its members and encourage registered voters to contact their respective state and federal elected officials to repeal their states’ and federal Mandatory Minimum sentencing statues. Roslyn M. Brock Chairman National Board of Directors Leon Russell Benjamin Todd Jealous Chairman President & CEO Committee on Resolutions