Letter to ABA requesting that sentencing and criminal justice reform be included on the ABA’s Lobby Day agenda

SUMMARY

In anticipation of the ABA’s annual Lobby Day in April, City Bar President Debra L. Raskin sent a letter to ABA President Paulette Brown to urge the ABA to include sentencing and criminal justice reform on its Lobby Day agenda. Underscoring the growing bipartisan support for changes to our nation’s current system of mass incarceration and widespread recognition of its lasting social and economic ills, Ms. Raskin conveyed the City Bar’s position (also set forth in its September report “Mass Incarceration: Seizing the Moment for Reform”) that we are at a “critical juncture” in the debate on mass incarceration and that there is a need for criminal justice reform at all levels—local, state and federal. The letter also noted that legislation—including the Sentencing Reform Act—is currently being considered by Congress that, if enacted, would help reduce prison overcrowding and undo some of the harms caused by our current system’s disparate treatment of racial minorities.