Tuesday, May 30th
(Adapted from ACLU Action)
JEFF SESSIONS IS WRONG ABOUT THE WAR ON DRUGS
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is spouting rhetoric and promoting policies that we’ve been working hard to put in the past. With near-consensus that the War on Drugs was a failure on all levels, the country is ready to move to smart and commonsense reforms to our broken criminal justice system.
Except for one man: our top law enforcement official, Jeff Sessions.
Sessions has reversed an important charging policy that instructed prosecutors to avoid getting caught in the stranglehold of mandatory minimum sentencing. Mandatory minimums are widely understood as racist, destructive to families and communities, and fundamentally unfair. So why is our attorney general actively undoing policy in order to encourage the harshest possible punishments?
Jeff Sessions has a history of endorsing ineffective policies and positions based on political rhetoric. He wants to put as many people as possible behind bars. And not just anyone – the War on Drugs policies Sessions is rolling out target and harm Black and Brown people and communities.
This has to end. We need smart criminal justice reforms – not regressive, recycled policies.
Action You Can Take Today
- Add your name to the ACLU petition now to tell Jeff Sessions that no matter what he says, the War on Drugs must end.
- Write directly to Attorney General Sessions and ask him why he rescinded the Justice Department's commitment to reduce the use of private prisons. Ask him if his former aides (now lobbyists for the private prison industry) led him to make that decision. Hold him accountable.
