Category: Criminal Justice Reform

Chuck Collins 2019 Plenary Keynote Speaker

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Chuck Collins is an author and senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, where he directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good. He is also co-founder of Wealth for Common Good. He is an expert on economic inequality in the US, and has pioneered efforts to bring together investors and business leaders to speak out publicly against corporate practices and economic policies that increase economic inequality.

Collins has written a number of books about inequality, tax policy and social change philanthropy. In 2000, he co-authored the book, Robin Hood Was Right: A Guide to Giving Your Money for Social Change. In 2000 (revised in 2005), he co-authored with Felice Yeskel Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity.  Collins is coauthor, with William H. Gates Sr, of the 2003 book, Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes, which argues that the estate tax is both fair and necessary. In 2013, he authored 99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It. His most recent book is Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good.

Between 1983 and 1991, Collins worked at the Institute for Community Economics, based in Greenfield, Massachusetts, providing technical advice to community land trusts and mobile home resident cooperatives. Between 1991 and 1995, he was director of the HOME Coalition in Massachusetts and a field organizer for the Tax Equity Alliance of Massachusetts (now the Mass Budget and Policy Center). In 1995, he co-founded, with Felice Yeskel and S.M. Miller, United for a Fair Economy in Boston, Massachusetts, a left-leaning national organization devoted to education about growing income and wealth inequality.

Collins has worked with a number of prominent wealthy individuals, including William H. Gates, Sr. and George Soros, in an effort to promote tax equity. 

In 2005, he became a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits the web site, Inequality.org and directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good. In 2008, he cofounded Wealth for the Common Good, which subsequently merged in 2015 with the Patriotic Millionaires.

At the Institute for Policy Studies, Collins’ research has looked at income and wealth inequality and the racial wealth divide. He has co-authored a number of studies including “Billionaire Bonanza” exploring the share of wealth flowing to the top 1 percent and Forbes 400, and the “Ever Growing Gap”, which examines the future of the racial wealth divide.

 

Virtual Reality Solitary Confinement Headsets

Regarding the solitary confinement Virtual Reality experience, this 6X9 website has more information.

Two Sundays, Two Awesome Conferences

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On Sunday, February 3rd, UU FaithAction held the first Justice Policy Update Conference, which featured Professor Meghan Sacks, Criminal Justice Program Chair at Fairleigh Dickinson University.  Professor Sacks talked very knowledgeably and passionately about the legislation that created mass incarceration, the current efforts to amend some of these policies, and the injustice these policies perpetuate.  As one seasoned conference attendee stated, “It was the BEST speaker she had ever heard on this topic.”  Professor Sacks recommends that anyone interested in mass incarceration watch the films 13th and Riker’s Island: An American Jail.

On Sunday, February 10, UU FaithAction held the second Policy Update Conference at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton.  Our guest speaker was journalist and WNYC on-air correspondent Matt Katz.  Matt Katz has become, over the past three yeas, a leading investigative reporter on immigration, detainees, protective status and refugees in America.  His talk was informative and riveting.  Prior to his deep dive into Immigration, Matt reported on former Gov. Chris Christie and was part of a team of journalists who earned a Peabody award for their reporting.

Stand with UU FaithAction at The People’s State of the State

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Stand up in support of economic, political, and social justice at The People’s State of the State!

New Jerseyans are still waiting for movement on critical issues like a $15 minimum wage for all workers, drivers licenses for all, marijuana legalization, environmental justice, and a tax code that ensures the wealthiest pay their fair share.

We deserve lawmakers who share our sense of urgency and recognize that now is not the time for politics as usual. Now is the time to create a stronger and more-inclusive state for all residents, not just the wealthy and well-connected.

Together we can create the fairer and more-just New Jersey we all envision. Join us on January 10th outside the State House Annex!

WHEN:  January 10, 2019 at 10am – 12pm
WHERE:  State House Annex
131 W State St
Trenton, NJ 08608
United States

Oppose New Jersey Redistricting

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NJ legislative leaders–primarily Democrats–are supporting a horrible amendment to the NJ constitution, a purely political proposal to increase the ability of politicians to choose their voters.  The usual term for it is “gerrymandering.” It would also embed the two-party system into the state’s constitution, a blatant attempt to weaken third parties like the Green and Libertarian parties. Every group that testified on the proposed amendment this past week opposed it. UUs and our allies should oppose this most recent attempt to codify gerrymandering too. 

Despite the fact that this doesn’t easily fall under one of UU FaithAction’s six issue areas, it flies directly in the face of our 5th Principle: “The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.“

For example, the amendment not only gives the sitting Senate president, House speaker, and minority leaders the power to appoint eight members to the redistricting commission.  It also requires that four of those appointees must be sitting legislators. This would clearly empower elected officials to have an oversized influence on who votes in their own or their own party’s races.

Furthermore, an analysis by the Princeton Gerrymandering Project demonstrates that in creating districts that the amendment calls “competitive” could actually lead to an overrepresentation of the majority party in the legislature. 

While the proposed amendment would mandate respecting “communities of interest”, there are no protections for racial equity and too few public hearings to establish truly representative communities of interest.

Additionally, the explanatory paragraphs that describe the amendment on the required statewide ballot are also misleading: they give no hint of the radical change to representative democracy this amendment entails. What seem like “motherhood and apple pie” goals are more like poisoned apples presented to an innocent public.

Finally, New Jersey would be much better served by a non-partisan redistricting process like California’s, rather than a partisan (even if bipartisan) process designed to protect incumbents, party loyalists, and further entrench the Democratic and Republican parties themselves.  Our partners at the League of Women Voters proposes such a non-partisan process in their Fair Districts New Jersey Project. 

Please make it a priority!  Call or write your senator and assembly members to oppose SCR152 and ACR205 (and earlier SCR43 and ACR60).

 

What You Can Do:

1. Send an email to your legislators letting them know New Jersey deserves a fair redistricting process and fair maps!

2. Call your legislator’s district office to voice your opposition to SCR152/ACR205. Review our sample script and talking points here

3. Visit the League’s “Partisan Gerrymandering” resource webpage and learn more about the undemocratic proposals being fast-tracked through the Legislature

Thank you for your attention to this very important issue!

Summary Statement On Restoration of Voting Rights

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STATEMENT ON RESTORATION OF VOTING RIGHTS (from NJ bill)

SENATE 2100/ASSEMBLY 3456

      This bill removes the prohibition on voting by persons who are on parole, probation, or serving a sentence due to a conviction for an indictable offense under any federal or State laws.

     Under Article II, Section I, paragraph 7, the New Jersey Constitution authorizes the Legislature to deny the right to vote to persons convicted of crimes designated by the Legislature. Under N.J.S.A.2C:51-3, a person who is convicted of a crime is disqualified from “voting in any primary, municipal, special or general election as determined by the provisions of R.S.19:4-1.”  In relevant part, R.S.19:4-1 denies the right to vote to any person “who is serving a sentence or is on parole or probation as a result of a conviction of any indictable offense under the laws of this or another state or of the United States.” In New Jersey, indictable offenses are crimes of the fourth through first degree.           

     The bill provides that persons who are serving a sentence of incarceration for an indictable offense under the laws of this state or another state or the United States would be entitled to vote by mail-in ballot, pursuant to the provisions of “The Vote By Mail Law,” in the district in which they resided immediately prior to incarceration.

     The bill, accordingly, also repeals statutory provisions that permit a person to challenge a voter’s right to vote in an election on grounds that the voter is disenfranchised due to a criminal conviction (N.J.S.A.19:15-19); require the commissioner of registration in each county to compare voter registration records with criminal conviction records to prevent disenfranchised persons from voting and registering to vote (N.J.S.A.19:31-17); and criminalize the act of voting while disenfranchised (N.J.S.A.19:34-4).

Summary Statement On Special Prosecutor Bill

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STATEMENT ON SPECIAL PROSECUTOR BILL (from NJ Bill)

SENATE 1036/ASSEMBLY 3115

     This bill provides that when a person’s death occurred during an encounter with a police officer or other law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent was in custody, the Attorney General is to supersede the local county prosecutor, utilizing existing supersession authority, and conduct, personally or by a designated deputy or assistant attorney general, any investigation, criminal action or proceeding concerning the incident. 

      The bill provides for the Attorney General or designee to present evidence concerning the incident to a county grand jury or a State grand jury, either one regularly impaneled or one requested to be impaneled by the Attorney General or the Director of the Division of Criminal Justice pursuant to N.J.S.2B:22-1 for this specific purpose, to determine if the evidence supports the return of an indictment against any involved officer.  Any further investigation, criminal action or proceeding, following an indictment, is to be conducted under the law as any other investigation, criminal action or proceeding resulting from a grand jury indictment; provided that the venue for any such criminal action or proceeding will occur in a court located in a county other than the county in which the incident, resulting in the officer’s indictment, occurred.

      The bill also notes that, consistent with existing public records law, the identity of each investigating and arresting officer involved when the person’s death occurred during the encounter with a police officer or other law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent was in custody would remain subject to public disclosure.  See P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.).

      The bill takes effect immediately upon enactment and applies to deaths occurring on or after the effective date of the bill.

CONTACT UU FAITHACTION NJ:
4 Waldron Avenue, Summit NJ 07901 | (908) 376-6535 | execdir@uufaithaction.org