NOTE: The date has been moved by the organizers! Date has been corrected below.
Join Occupy the Hood on September 14th-17th in a March for Justice. The New Jersey Libertarian Party fully supports the efforts of this march and will proudly march along side the organizers.
The 2010 census found that the United States leads the world with 7.1 million adults under the supervision of various correctional authorities. 4.89 million of them are under some sort of probation and 2.27 million are being held behind bars.
As of January 2012, New Jersey holds nearly 24,000 adults in correctional facilities including prisons and half-way houses. Of those 61% of them are black.
According the Bureau of Justice Statistics, as of 2001, about 1 in 37 Americans have served time in state or federal prisons. The results of a felony conviction stay with you for a long time. Every job application asks about felonies, and many occupational licenses are restricted. Under the Higher Education act student loans are denied to those who have been convicted of a drug crime. Often, instead of rescuing a person from a life of crime and setting their lives straight, a conviction causes a downward spiral and a disenfranchisement from civil society.
Our insane war on drugs is behind this injustice. While those convicted of violent crimes may deserve a just punishment, those caught up in the war on drugs are punished much harsher than any harm caused by those drugs. According to the Libertarian News, 86% of the federal prison population is there under non-violent offenses.
Prosecutors too often obtain convictions under false pretenses. They threaten suspects with long prison sentences in order to obtain false guilty pleas. They set suspects against suspects in order to obtain false testimony. Studies have shown that prosecutorial misconduct to be rampant with no or little punishment being given to prosecutors who ignore or misapply the law.
All of this carnage comes at a huge cost to the taxpayer. In 2010 the cost to incarcerate our prison population in New Jersey was $1.4 Billion.
From Occupy the Hood:
To All Supporters of Justice and Fairness:
Be a part of history! Join Jersey Freedom Marchers as we seek prison reform and some justice in the justice system.
If you thought activism was dead, if you thought the spirit of the march as an instrument of social change was behind us, if you thought that the tumultuous decades of the mid Twentieth Century were gone, you may be surprised!
In a spirit that recalls the march from Selma to Montgomery, a March for Justice,is planned. The March will cover thirty two miles from Camden to Trenton on Sptember 14th through September 17th. The focal point of the March is a broken system of Justice. At the end, we will rally at the New Jersey Statehouse. Along the way we are planning to protest at some state correctional facilities like Garden State Youth Correctional Facility, Bo Robinson Treatment Center and the State Parole Board Office.
The organizers of the March seek to draw attention to several points of concern in the "injustice” system,including; an end the industry of incarceration, such as the growing use of prison and confinement to solve the problem of social inequity; an end to mandatory minimum sentencing; an end to torture and sensory deprivation,including solitary confinement; an end to unaccountable use of private agents and agencies to carry out public responsibilities, and finally an end to the expectation that treatment of individuals as animals will transform them into productive citizens. In short, a justice system that is worthy of the ideals of the Constitution, where fairness, transparency and truth will replace the expedient, the hidden and the influence of the dollar.
Please join in this effort in any of the following ways:
As a Marcher
- We will be walking a little more than 10 miles each day. You can march every step or just join us for a while.
As a Planner/Organizer
- food,water and shelter planning
- making community contacts in towns we will pass through
- spreading the word before hand
- writing/posting/blogging during and after
- and so much more.
As a Supporter
- Be a financial donor - very necessary in order to make this happen.
- Be a person to provide/drive a support vehicle to carry supplies along the route.
- Donate water, food, clean socks, first aid supplies and such.
Help us in any way you think of.
Contact info:
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