MEDIA
ADVISORY---FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
IDPI Executive Director Charles Thomas, 301-938-1577
Annapolis – Charles Thomas, executive director
of the Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative, addressed the Maryland
General Assembly today in support of H.B. 280, a bill to repeal
mandatory drug sentencing.
“I am here to testify to the broad consensus among mainstream
religious denominations that mandatory minimum sentencing for
drug offenders is cruel and inappropriate,” said Charles
Thomas. “Politicians are mistaken if they think there is
any serious moral backing for these oppressive laws.”
During the 1980s, many state legislatures passed laws that force
judges to give long, fixed prison terms to people convicted of
certain drug crimes (including nonviolent offenders). These laws
are largely responsible for the massive increase in the prison
population. Many people who initially favored these harsh mandatory
sentences are changing their minds after seeing how ineffective
and devastating they are.
The following national religious denominations have made
unequivocal statements supporting the repeal of mandatory minimum
sentences for drug offenders: Roman Catholic (the largest
religious denomination in the state, comprising of 25% of Marylanders),
United Methodist (14% of Marylanders, 3rd largest
religious denomination), Evangelical Lutheran
(6% of Marylanders, 4th largest religious denomination), Presbyterian
(USA) (3% of Marylanders, 5th largest religious denomination),
United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist,
and the National Council of Churches (a national
coalition of 140,000 congregations from 36 Protestant, Anglican
and Orthodox denominations). The actual statements made by these
religious bodies are available upon request.
“It is an egregious miscarriage of justice that Maryland’s
prisons are filled with mostly black, low-level, non-violent drug
offenders,” said Thomas. “This policy is tearing apart
families and breaking the state budget, while doing nothing to
prevent people — especially young people — from abusing
drugs. We pray that legislators will have the compassion and courage
to repeal mandatory minimum laws and restore sentencing discretion
to judges.”
Interfaith
Drug
Policy Initiative, P.O.
Box 6299, Washington, D.C. 20015
Phone: 301-933-7681 Fax:301-933-7682 |
