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Congressional Member Update
The House and Senate Judiciary Committees have some new members.
The California and Arizona medical marijuana initiatives have
helped to expose the drug war for the farce it is. Several chief
judges in the various circuits have openly stated their opposition
to the drug war. There are more appeals for drug policy reform
than ever before - some of the judiciary are calling for outright
legalization! The New York State Criminal Trial Attorney's Association
recently released a 50 page report suggesting that drugs be entirely
removed from criminal justice.
The recent "Report of the National Criminal Justice Commission"
[Steve Donziger editor, Harper Perennial, 1996] issued a scathing
book about what is going on and had this to say about the criminal
justice system:
"Many criminologists have begun to ponder the unthinkable:
that the criminal justice system itself, rather than guarding
the peace, contributes to social instability in America."
The more people they lock up, the more
the word gets out however, and you can help by sending letters
of protest to the right legislators. Letters should go to the
following people:
- The House and Senate Judiciary Committees
- The U.S. Sentencing Commission
- Individual Representatives and Senators from the districts
where you live.
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- SD-244 Dirksen Building
- Washington, D.C. 20510
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Republicans |
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Democrats |
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Orrin G. Hatch, Chairman (UT)
Strom Thurmond (SC)
Charles E. Grassley (IA)
Arlen Spector (PA)
Fred Thompson (TN)
Jon Kyl (AZ)
Mike DeWine (OH)
Spencer Abraham (MI)
John Asncroft (MO)
Jeff Sessions (AL)
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Patrick Leah (VT)
Edward Kennedy (MA)
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (DE)
Herbert H. Kohl (WI)
Dianne Feinstein (CA)
Russell D. Feingold (WI)
Richard Durban (IL)
Robert Torricelli (NJ)
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- House Judiciary Committee
- 2138 Rayburn House Office Building
- Washington, D.C. 20515
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Republicans |
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Democrats |
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Henry Hyde, Chairman (IL)
James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (WI)
Bill McCollum (FL)
George W. Gekas (PA)
Howard Coble (NC)
Lamar S. Smith (TX)
Steven Schiff (NM)
Elton Gallegly (CA)
Charles Canady (FL)
Bob Inglis (SC)
Bob Goodlatte (VA)
Steve Buyer (IN)
Sonny Bono (CA)
Ed Bryant (TN)
Steve Chabot (OH)
Bob Barr (GA)
Bill Jenkins (TN)
Asa Hutchinson (AR)
Ed Pease (IN)
Chris Cannon (UT)
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John Conyers (MI)
Barney Frank (MA)
Charles Schumer (NY)
Howard L. Berman (CA)
Rick Boucher (VA)
Jerrold Nadler (NY)
Robert C. Scott (VA)
Melvin Watt (NC)
Zoe Lofgrem (CA)
Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX)
William D. Delahunt (MA)
Robert Wexler (FL)
Steve R. Rothman (NJ)
Martin T. Meehan (MA)
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- Commissioner
- U.S. Sentencing Commission
- One Columbus Circle, N.E. Suite 2-500
- South Lobby
- Washington, D.C. 20002-8002
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| The U.S. Sentencing Commission
adopts various proposals each year; they generally organize which
proposals and changes they will make to the Guidelines in or
around December and, in general, put them out in January. They
then take public input in or around the first of March. If the
proposals make it through, and if Congress doesn't intervene,
they become law in November. So far, the only time Congress intervened
was over the crack cocaine equalization amendment, which caused
a real mess. There is thinking that the Commission will be timid
about submitting any real radical proposals, so it is important
that people write to them and tell them what they think about
these heavy drug sentences. Remember
to send your letters to the Sentencing Commission in March. |
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