Workplace "Prison Issue" Stimulates Union Response The following resolution was adopted during the 2001 Spring Delegate
Assembly of United University Professions. It represents the beginning
of one academic union's response to "The Prison Issue" (Workplace 3.2,
December 2000).Whereas, the Rockefeller drug laws fill New York prisons with low-level,
non-violent offenders; andWhereas, these laws fuel a meteoric rise in state prison expenditures; and
Whereas, these expenditures detract from state investment in public
schools, health services, and higher education; andWhereas, the Rockefeller drug laws have a racially biased impact which
is disproportionately devastating to Black and Latino Americans and deepens
the racial fault lines that weaken solidarity among Americans and give the lie to the
promise of America as a land of equal opportunity; andWhereas, this biased impact undermines faith in principles of justice,
equal protection of the laws, and fairness and efficacy of the criminal justice system that
are the bedrock of a constitutional democracy; therefore be itResolved, that UUP take a formal position in favor of legislation reforming the
Rockefeller drug laws; and be it furtherResolved, that UUP's future legislative efforts include support of Rockefeller drug law
reform; and be it furtherResolved, that Bill Scheuerman, President of UUP, write a letter to
Governor George Pataki and all members of the New York State Senate and Assembly urging
support of drug law reform legislation that makes sentencing reform retroactive and
that includes but is not limited to a significant reduction in sentence lengths for drug
offenses, the restoration of sentencing discretion to trial judges in all drug cases,
and the expansion of funding available for alternatives to incarceration, including drug
rehabilitation, and be it furtherResolved, that President Scheuerman forwards a copy of this letter to
the Presidents of AFT, NYSUT, and PSC-CUNY.
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