> racial breakdown of U.S. inmate population howl
that African meriean are incar r t d t rate that i more than ix
tim that of whitea--1,947 p r 10. to 306 per 100,000.
>Black male in the U. e inc rcer ted at more than four
tim the rate of Black m I in uhf fri --3, 22 p r 100,000 vs.
s 1 per 100.000.
>Th cost of inc r rat: n n tionally in the U.S. i e timat d
t 26.8 billion nn)l lIy. E tim l dot fin arcer tion of Afri n
American males are 11.6 billion annu 11y.
>The numb r of African A 1 ric n mal in prisons nd jails
in th U.S. (583.000) is gr ater th n the number of African American
mal enroJledinhighereducation( 37.). .
>Dru • propert d public rder offender accounted for 84
percent of the 1�5 percent incr in n W ourt commitm nt to tate
pro ons from 1980 to 1992, while violent off nders ccounted for only
16 percent of th increa .
Th rudy say th t nation's rate of incarceration in itself only
. describes on aspect of its criminal justi e or soci 1 polici s. Por
example. nation with a high r of incar eration might hav a high
rate of crime. a har h nt ncing s}' tern. politically repressive
government. or some combin tion of the nd oth r f ctors. imilarly.
one cannot ume that n tion with low in ar er tion r tes n ces arily
h ve low crime rates or are re ipectful of civil lib rti s. For ex mple,
the co t of large- cale in r ration i prohibitive for m ny Third
World nations. 0 th y m intain "10 impri onment r te. Other
nations maintain a relatively low incar ration rate.
vet have brutal co ditions confin ment, In'
Z 're.,fer.. ple, th lbo' cer in, ,ort,,;.!. 'rtnq'YlI(l' '-1
i a rel�l Iv t : I. • it h ..... f.' f • 'fl' 'tfll')'!
reported' that near y 7.5 pe c nt of the i rn atc in
the prison system die each � ar due t m lnutnti n
and oor health care.
A few ofth ommendation
in, iuded the toll \\ ing:
>Rep aling m ndu ry sen e nc in 1\\'. ')
in order to re tore appropriate judici 1 d!<;rr lion;
>Treating the drug problem prim arily <;
a public health problem rather than f\ criminal
justice problem;
>Supporting the pansi n r E\ br ade r
r ng of alternative to mcarc rati in to prov id
judges and communitie with viable community­
based ntencing options:
>Establi hing a nati nal commission to
examine the high rate of incarceration in the U.S.,
and of African American males in p rticul r.
For mar information. or a c py 0 the
complete study, you may write r call: The
S�nt�ncing Project, Moicolm . Young,
Executive Director, 918 "F" treet, sn', -Suite
501, lrasllington, DC 20004, Pirone 202-628-
0871 or FAX 202·628·1091.
T?
(1) An omen for the futur '? And for th
re t of the country'? enator Phil ram m attached
an amendment to the DC appropriation bill togut
all of the PREVE TION mone for D . out of
tbe just passed crime law.
J X FAX PREDI TION! In the next
fi cal year. the Deficit Reductionz ct will gut all'
of th« mon�y c E or PR VENTIO
in the new crime law. Little, if any, of the
prevenuo« money will ever be AT!
a, Elf TREl D! Increasin ly. tote
and local jails are bing privatiz d. In certain
instances. local police are now buying S 0 k in the
companies that run the jails. Thus. th re will be
plenty of(economic) incentive to k ep prrsons tull
if this trend continues!
(3) The Justice D part m nt just t lensed a
study comparing federal ar d s n inrn a . It's
filled with interesting stati tic ( g, 1 00 of nil
federal-inmate are noncitizens: 58"'0 of all fed ral
pri oners are rving tim for dru offense).
CONNECT WITH US
Voi .
202 nt-II 0
1.1 .
202 72 -Il (2
T''''
Did
rpr OV('l't 1111<'
of t
881>ec1t.8 of th current S te of
Eme ncy ffiicting th BI ck
Nation i th p rio plight
of African American youth.
To b young nd African in
Am rican too y i
conditions and
frightening to
Never befor have African
American youth fa uch an
epidemic of d ru ,crime, vio­
lence, incarceration and self-de-
truction. The brutality of
gen ratio of racist oppression
and d cades of blatan neglect
m to hav conspired to pIa
Th re is an ur nt n for
African American youth to
shape 8 meaningful agenda/pro.
gram for the urvival and d vel·
opment ofth race into th 21st
century.
Among the crucial tasks :
which a new SNCC type organi- .
zation could undertake re th
following:
A major African n red
community education cam ign .
direct towards BI k youth
with after school programs, at- ,
urday Schools and upport for .
independent Black d u ional
institution ;
H messing Bla k youth
consun er power to f rpo-
''1A��.� tions ,h
ira i ns t la.�r.q_
m (imR�n you h l oycott
against .he manufactur rs 0
athletic apparel - n k r
swea hirts, jackets t. whi h
are so popular among I31ack
youth);
Youth economic d v lop­
ment nd entrepren u 1; 1 pro­
gram to build a o no m ic
po we rba to und rgird y ut h
nd student 1 d ru: vo m nt
work/initi tives;
o ndertaking . a no hold
barred, "by any means m
sary" campaign for 1 pare t ions;
Regis ring, edu " t ing and
mobili zinglorganizi ng hu ndr
of thousands of African you n
peopl 0 participat in youth
and student 1 ind nd nt
liti 1 party t.o advan
cal/progr siv Black
and fight for pow r!
RITES OF PASSAGE pro­
grams for young African Am ri­
can males and females are also
spreading across the nation. Af­
ter a lull in the late seventi
Yoo HEM LIKE
TI£ KLU f(J..UX
� .... Nf1))
NAZISM ....
REDLINltG .. , DISCRIMI
INSTITUTIoNALiZED
RA£.� ...• LY�I�G ...
.. �.W"IJES ONLY: ....
... MEDIA FACISM •.• ··
:facw .... BlGo,.S ....
'" ST£�TVPlHG_.
.' PREJUDiCE ..... t
o
"
"
y MllIIlia Abu-J amal
•
•
From Death Row
v. impson i it.
f the timated 2,800 men
nd womenon U.S. D th Rows,
a r I tively small percent of
h m, rhap Ie s than 5�, re
on D ath Row for multiple
homicid .
Furth nnore, over a third of
th pIon ath Row, 0 r
1 fk I had no prior felony convic-
ti wh n th y were put on
h R w, rding to t t i -
1 -fromth U.S,Bure uofJus­
i' . ta , Wa hington, .C
Whites, O.J. was certainly eligi­
ble. But he diff red from th
�roughly 400 others on Califor­
ni 's Death Row b caus of his
remarkable financial resources
- megabucks culled from life­
time of pitching corporate prod­
ucts like th Hertz Car R ntal
Agency. Simp on ha lr ady
committed millions of dolla to
his defen , garn ring, rgu-
bly, th b st de£ nse t m h t
mon y can buy. I
Against the Shapiro-C -
chran-Bailey-Dershowitz, et al.
defense te m, th L.A DA' of­
fi� knows every ac ion, ty
inaction, nd e ry motion fil
will be fought with r� Vigor­
som hing it d n't h V to con­
tend with ,w hen th "e£ ns ",
consi ts of a cour - ppoint ,
poorly paid, and poorly prp�
pared lawy r
In th b k Equal JlI.stzc
the D atlt Penalty, I, I chol-
Baldus, Wo w rth & Pu­
laski write "Aft r dju. tm nt
for all qther 1 gitim te a� \
characteristics nd h d f<'I1-
