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US Senate Must Reform Criminal Justice System to Address Abuses – Advocates

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Human rights watchdogs, religious organizations, and criminal justice reform groups that signed the statement decried the “unsustainable growth in the federal prison population.”

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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The US Senate must reduce overcrowding, racial inequality and overspending in prisons by undertaking a comprehensive reform of the criminal justice system, a coalition of 37 civil society groups said in a statement.

“We urge you to support and advance criminal justice legislative reforms aimed at meaningfully addressing the primary drivers of dangerous overcrowding, unsustainable costs, and unwarranted racial disparities in the federal prison system,” the statement, issued on Thursday and addressed to the Senate Judiciary Committee, said.

Human rights watchdogs, religious organizations, and criminal justice reform groups that signed the statement decried the “unsustainable growth in the federal prison population.”

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The statement’s signatories include Human Rights Watch, the National Council of Churches, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

They called on the Senate to address the problem by reforming laws that set minimum prison sentences for drug crimes.

“Several recent studies have concluded that mandatory minimum sentences, particularly for drug offenses, are the leading contributor to our burgeoning federal prison population,” the statement said, adding that almost half the federal prison population consists of drug offenders.

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The number of people held in US prisons or jails has increased by 500 percent since the 1980s, with minorities making up 60 percent of the prison population, according to the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based advocacy group that signed the statement.

Overcrowding can be addressed by reducing sentences for well-behaved prisoners, the statement said. It also called on the Senate to expand compassionate release initiatives for the elderly and other categories of prisoners, such as those who are the only potential caregivers for their dependents.

The US federal prison system was operating 36 percent over capacity as of 2013, according to the Congressional Research Service.

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