skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

MN Religious Leaders Support Changes to Drug Sentencing Laws

play audio
Play

Wednesday, December 23, 2015   

ST. PAUL, Minn. - As Minnesota's prison population continues to grow, a group of religious leaders are speaking out in support of plans to lighten the state's drug sentencing laws.

The Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission is holding a public meeting this afternoon to weigh the pros and cons of those changes. Lars Negstad, strategic campaign coordinator with the interfaith advocacy group called ISAIAH, says about two-thirds of the state's prisoners are locked up because of low-level, nonviolent drug convictions. And he says there's a large racial disparity there.

"Essentially, the war on drugs is heavily racialized and has been a means to lock up a whole group of people over the past couple decades," says Negstad. "And that's just a disgraceful legacy and something that can't continue."

At today's hearing, county attorneys and other law enforcement agents plan to argue against changes, such as lowering the minimum sentences for certain drug offenders. They say these moves would not be in the interest of public safety.

An analysis of government data by the Minneapolis Post shows black Minnesotans make up 35 percent of the state's prisoners, but they represent just six percent of the overall population. Negstad says this is leading to other problems, not only for the individuals who are locked up, but also for their families.

"There's no way to close the disparities in all kinds of other fronts in terms of education and income and wealth and health without tackling the incarceration crisis," he says.

Minister Toya Woodland, with the Christ Temple Apostolic Church, believes that lowering minimum drug sentences for people who have addiction problems is a good start. But she says those drug offenders would be better served by treatment programs rather than prison.

"When did we start locking people up for being mentally ill," says Woodland. "Addiction is a DSM-IV classified mental illness."

Both sides will have a chance to speak at today's hearing. Then the Sentencing Guidelines Commission is expected to make a final decision on the proposed changes by Dec. 30.







get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021