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Criminal Justice Policy Coalition
CJPC Principles
The Coalition is guided by these principles:
The death penalty has no place in a civilized society.
Prisons should be reserved for only the most serious
crimes. We should develop a wide range of alternatives to
incarceration which would be less costly and more effective than prisons in
rehabilitating offenders and holding them accountable through fines,
community service, and restitution to victims.
Drug addiction is more effectively addressed as a health,
rather than a criminal problem. Resources devoted to interdiction and law
enforcement could be better spent on prevention, education and comprehensive
drug treatment.
Mandatory minimum sentences should be eliminated in order
to restore judicial discretion, reduce discriminatory prosecution, and
relieve dangerous overcrowding in our prisons.
Prisons should be administered not to inflict additional
punishment, but to provide a safe, humane environment, to preserve family
ties and prepare prisoners to return to society. To this end, prisoners
should be offered education, job training, drug and mental health treatment,
and progressively more freedom and responsibilities within the institutions.
Contact with family and community should be encouraged and full use made of
work release, pre-release furloughs, and halfway houses.
We've been tough...
Corrections spending tripled during this same time period. Over the last 10
years Massachusetts has enacted dozens of mandatory minimum drug laws, designed
to put drug kingpins behind bars. The trouble is, big pushers bargain their way
to freedom by squealing on lesser figures or surrendering assets to prosecutors.
Our prisons are crowded with small-time addicts. 26% of those serving time for
drug violations in 1995 were first-time offenders, up from 2% in 1989.
And spent our children's future...
Between 1982 and 1996, Massachusetts spent $1.47 billion on prison construction,
and in 1996 authorized 3,000 more cells. If built, taxpayers will pay over
$60,000 for each bed -- and two or three times that in finance charges and
interest over time. Each year another $30,000 will be spent to maintain
each inmate. Alternative sentences, such as community service, home confinement,
day-reporting, and drug treatment cost only $4,000 - $12,000 per year.
With little to show for it...
Three fourths of Massachusetts inmates lack an eighth grade education. Studies
show that the best way to keep someone from returning to prison is through
education, yet only only 1.5% of the 1999 Department of Corrections budget went
for education. The Department says that 80-90% of inmates have a drug problem,
but on January 1, 1995, only 10/6% were in drug treatment programs. This
is a prescription for failure in this century and the next.
We can do better!
The CJPC was formed in 1996 to promote progressive reform in the criminal
justice system by uniting grassroots activists, families of prisoners,
church-based volunteers, lawyers, academics, criminal justice professionals,
lobbying organizations and citizens wanting less costly, more effective ways to
reduce crime and enhance public safety.
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Criminal Justice Policy Coalition
99 Chauncy Street, Suite 310
Boston, MA 02111
phone: (617)482-3170, ex. 319
fax: (617)451-0009
[email protected]
www.cjpc.org
Copyright © 1999 Criminal Justice Policy Coalition
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