Friends:

     The 2009 Criminal Justice Transition Coalition, which includes The Sentencing Project and 20 other prominent national organizations, has just released a collaborative report identifying critical needs for federal policy reform. Smart on Crime: Recommendations for the Next Administration and Congress contains comprehensive policy recommendations at every stage of the justice system for the new Administration and Congress.
 
      "Americans of all political stripes, and especially professionals with experience in every aspect of the criminal justice system, recognize that the system is failing too many, costing too much, and helping too few," said the report. Included among the recommendations to overcome these challenges are:
 
·         Eliminate the crack cocaine sentencing disparity;
·         Expand alternatives to incarceration;
·         Fund prisoner reentry through the Second Chance Act;
·         Extend federal voting rights to people released from prison;
·         Restore welfare and food stamp eligibility to individuals with    drug felony convictions; and
·         Analyze and reduce unwarranted racial and ethnic disparity in the federal judicial system.
 
     The policy catalogue will be distributed to the Obama/Biden transition team and key leadership on Capitol Hill. The administration's transition team has already identified the need to eliminate crack cocaine sentencing disparities as one of its civil rights agenda items.

     In its entirety, the document identifies 15 issue areas within criminal justice for policy change. Additional issue areas featured in the catalogue include death penalty reform, prison reform, and juvenile justice. The comprehensive document features contacts for various field experts and organizations, and includes issues pertinent to the community of criminal justice advocates, practitioners and legislators.