<div dir="ltr">FCNL thinks Sen. Kirk might actually do this. A bunch of Republicans support this. It's plausible this could happen if Kirk heard from a bunch of people in Illinois. This could help stop a lot of unnecessary human suffering. All that is requested here is an email, a few clicks. <div><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Robert Naiman<br>Policy Director<br>Just Foreign Policy<br><a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">www.justforeignpolicy.org</a><br><a href="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">naiman@justforeignpolicy.org</a><br><div><span style="text-align:left">(202) 448-2898 x1</span><br></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Ruth Flower, FCNL</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ruthflower@fcnl.org">ruthflower@fcnl.org</a>></span><br>Date: Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 2:27 PM<br>Subject: Sen. Kirk needs to hear about mass incarceration<br>To: Robert Naiman <<a href="mailto:naiman.uiuc@gmail.com">naiman.uiuc@gmail.com</a>><br><br><br><u></u>
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<p style="color:#222222;font-family:georgia,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:0">Dear Friends in Illinois –</p>
<p style="color:#222222;font-family:georgia,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:0">Last Wednesday, along with colleagues from other faith groups, I met with Senator Mark Kirk’s Judiciary Committee staff. Senator Kirk had not yet decided whether or not to co-sponsor the Senate bill on Sentencing Reform that is moving along right now. <span>It seemed from the conversation that it would be very helpful for the Senator to receive some messages from constituents in support of the bill.</span></p>
<p style="color:#222222;font-family:georgia,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:0"><a href="https://fcnl.org/r/E/NDg1MDI0/Mzc1NzU/0/0/bmFpbWFuLnVpdWNAZ21haWwuY29t/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jYXB3aXouY29tL2Zjb25sL2lzc3Vlcy9hbGVydC8_YWxlcnRpZD02ODUzNzYyNiZ0eXBlPVRBIyEjIQ/7771/1" style="color:#0365b5" target="_blank"><strong>Please urge Sen. Kirk to support the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S. 2123).</strong></a></p>
<p style="color:#222222;font-family:georgia,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:0">There’s a <a href="https://fcnl.org/r/E/NDg1MDI1/Mzc1NzU/0/0/bmFpbWFuLnVpdWNAZ21haWwuY29t/aHR0cDovL2Zjbmwub3JnL2lzc3Vlcy9pbmNhcmNlcmF0aW9uL0ZDTkxfU2VudEFjdDIwMTVfU3VtLnBkZiMhIyE/7771/1" style="color:#0365b5" target="_blank">summary of the bill on our website here</a>. What I can tell you briefly is that the bill is a compromise. It reduces<em> some</em> of the very long (life-without-parole or 25-year) sentences to a more modest 10 years, and it allows judges some discretion in certain kinds of cases going forward. <span>The bill also makes a very good law – the Fair Sentencing Act – retroactive for thousands prisoners who are already serving disproportionately long sentences for crimes related to “crack” cocaine, compared to sentences for powdered cocaine.</span></p>
<p style="color:#222222;font-family:georgia,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:0"><strong>Basically the bill would allow some re-thinking about how to reduce crime.</strong> As one of my colleagues from the Methodists pointed out, these sentences were imposed in the ‘80s, when we thought that the best way to deal with drug related crimes was to frighten drug users with massive sentences. More than 30 years later, we know a lot more about addiction and even about punishment and second chances. This bill would begin to put some of this knowledge into effect.</p>
<p style="color:#222222;font-family:georgia,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:0"><strong><a href="https://fcnl.org/r/E/NDg1MDI2/Mzc1NzU/0/0/bmFpbWFuLnVpdWNAZ21haWwuY29t/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jYXB3aXouY29tL2Zjb25sL2lzc3Vlcy9hbGVydC8_YWxlcnRpZD02ODUzNzYyNiZ0eXBlPVRBIyEjIQ/7771/1" style="color:#0365b5" target="_blank">Tell Sen. Kirk: Sentencing reform is good for Illinois.</a></strong></p>
<p style="color:#222222;font-family:georgia,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:0">Some states have already begun to reduce their prison populations with shorter state sentences, and to invest the savings in programs that directly address underlying problems (such as addictions) and that prepare people in prison for a transition to civilian life. The federal prison system holds a large number of people for drug-related crimes. The federal system needs an overhaul too.</p>
<p style="color:#222222;font-family:georgia,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:0">To be clear, this bill isn’t the overhaul. It’s a step. <strong>But it’s a very positive one</strong> – it is being supported by bipartisan negotiators who wrote it and introduced it, and a bipartisan list of nearly two dozen co-sponsors.</p>
<p style="color:#222222;font-family:georgia,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:0">Senator Kirk is a linchpin in this process. His support would mean a lot. <a href="https://fcnl.org/r/E/NDg1MDI3/Mzc1NzU/0/0/bmFpbWFuLnVpdWNAZ21haWwuY29t/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jYXB3aXouY29tL2Zjb25sL2lzc3Vlcy9hbGVydC8_YWxlcnRpZD02ODUzNzYyNiZ0eXBlPVRBIyEjIQ/7771/1" style="color:#0365b5" target="_blank"><strong>Will you take a moment to send him your thoughts today?</strong></a></p>
<p style="color:#222222;font-family:georgia,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:0">Thanks!</p>
<p style="color:#222222;font-family:georgia,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:0"><img align="left" src="http://fcnl.org/about/who/staff/ruth-150.jpg" style="margin:0 1em 1em 1em">Ruth Flower<br>Legislative Director</p>
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