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Clinton Ask To Release Federal
Non-Violent Drug Offenders
http://www.norml.org/news/index.shtml
12-16-00
 
 
Washington, DC - A coalition of over 600 religious leaders in the United States last week asked President Bill Clinton to commute the sentences of non-violent federal drug offenders in the final weeks of his term.
 
The coalition has set up a website www.cjpf.org/clemency for religious leaders to sign their letter to the president.
 
The letter reads, "As faith leaders who cherish Divine justice and mercy for all persons, we ask you to grant clemency to and to release on supervised parole those Federal prisoners who have served at least five years for low-level, nonviolent involvement in drug cases (as defined by the U.S. Department of Justice). Mr. President, scores of Americans are serving unconscionably long sentences for drug offenses -- in some cases twenty years or more -- which are grossly out of proportion to the nature and severity of their crimes. These unduly severe sentences violate human rights and waste scarce criminal justice resources. The continued incarceration of such offenders does not serve any meaningful purpose."
 
As part of Christian and Jewish faiths, every 50th year is a Jubilee year, in which debts are forgiven and prisoners are liberated. This year is a Jubilee year for Christians.
 
"For years, the ONDCP's General Barry McCaffrey, along with his predecessors, have always encouraged citizens to seek out religious leaders to help heal America's difficult relationship with drug abuse," said Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director. "Citizens, in fact, have sought out religious leaders and many of them support the Coalition for Jubilee Clemency and its basic call for education and treatment, rather than the criminal justice system to reach drug abusers."
 
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director at (202) 483-8751 or the Coalition for Jubilee Clemency at (202) 312-2015 or visit their website at www.cjpf.org/clemency/.


 
 
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