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2020 will mark the 10-year anniversary of the publication of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, which explains how the criminal justice system unfairly burdens black people. At the same time, criminal justice reform advocates are calling upon Democratic presidential candidates to make ending mass incarceration a campaign centerpiece. Today isn’t the first time we’re talking about criminal justice reform at MCW, and it won’t be the last. Here’s how to take action this week.
Felony disenfranchisement laws—whose origins are notoriously racist (more on this in the Second Wind below)—exist in some form in every state besides Maine and Vermont. Check out your state’s status on this ACLU map. Then see what state-level initiatives are out there to restore voting rights to people convicted of a felony by doing an internet search for “my state + felony voting rights.”
At the end of last year, in a rare moment of bipartisanship, the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform bill, was signed into law. Now some Congresspeople are pushing for the Next Step Act, which would implement even more comprehensive reforms. The bill is new and doesn’t have many cosponsors yet. Read about the bill, and check the Senate and House versions to see if your members of Congress are cosponsors. Call your two senators and representative: Ask them to build off of the bipartisan success of the First Step Act and cosponsor the Next Step Act.
Your next step is to research one of the organizations below or another one in your area, think about how much time you have and what your skills are, and sign up to get involved.
Real Justice focuses on the power of progressive prosecutors to make a huge impact on criminal justice outcomes in their jurisdictions. They are actively seeking volunteers to join their call team and media amplification team.
The Justice Collaborative’s mission is similar to that of Real Justice, but they’re specifically looking for volunteers to research local criminal justice data that’s publicly available. A legal background is a plus but not required.
The Equal Justice Initiative’s Jennifer Rae Taylor connects the dots between felony disenfranchisement and broader efforts at black voter disenfranchisement. The Marshall Project features a short version of her essay, and the Equal Justice Initiative has the long version.
In 1901, delegates drafting a new constitution for Alabama knew their mission. “Within the limits imposed by the Federal Constitution,” convention president John B. Knox explained, the delegates aimed “to establish white supremacy in this state. If we should have white supremacy, we must establish it by law — not by force or fraud.”
Unable to explicitly ban black voters without violating federal law, the resulting state constitution declared persons “convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude” could not vote without having their rights restored.
