BUTTIGIEG CAMPAIGN MAKES HISTORY--FIRST 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN TO DISCUSS CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM WITH LIFERS, INC. -- AN "INSIDE OUT" CRIMINAL JUSTICE THINK TANK

LIFERS INCORPORATED

Long Incarcerated Fraternity Engaging Release Studies

SCI-Phoenix

CONTACT:

Diane A. Sears

United States and North America Coordinator – Impartial And Fair Treatment In Parole Initiative 

Project Leader, Middle Neighborhoods At-Risk Youths And Young Adults Mentoring Program, 

       A LIFERS, Inc. – Public Safety Initiative External Affiliation

Managing Editor, IN SEARCH OF FATHERHOOD®

267-581-3963

E-Mail: insearchoffatherhood@gmail.com

          PHILADELPHIA, PA (USA) – 16 February 2020 –   Thirty-eight year old former South Bend, Indiana Mayor  and 2020 United States Presidential Candidate The Honorable Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg is capturing imaginations and being hailed as a maverick with a first place showing in the Iowa Primary and a very strong showing in the New Hampshire Primary. The Buttigieg Presidential Campaign’s Criminal Justice Reform Platform will take center stage at  the Senior Policy Advisors Presidential Campaign-level Criminal Justice Reform Conference Call scheduled for Monday, 17 February 2020 at 1:00 P.M. (E.D.T.) (telephone conference call number 712-775-7031 -  access code number 803 828).    Key stakeholders attending the conference call, which is originating at Philadelphia’s Juvenile Criminal Justice Center at 48^th Street and Haverford Avenue, view the dialogue as a bold exercise in laying out the tools needed to create Criminal Justice Reform that every citizen can see, feel, hear, and touch.   The Buttigieg Presidential Campaign makes history when it becomes the first 2020 United States Presidential Campaign to participate in a Senior Policy Advisors Presidential Campaign-level Criminal Justice Policy conference call  which has been approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, with an “inside-out” Criminal Justice Reform Think Tank – LIFERS,  Inc. at SCI Phoenix  – whose gun violence prevention initiative has been approved and is being funded by the City of Philadelphia (https://mailchi.mp/phila.gov/city-awardsmore-than-700000-to-grassroots-efforts-to-stem-gun-violence-309345?e=0dfdda 1bd3).    

So, what does the ButtigiegCriminal Justice Reform Platform look like? Here is a glimpse:

·         Prioritizing funding for programs that promote pretrial reforms, decarceration, and expanding alternatives to incarceration programs

·         Eliminating incarceration for drug possession on the federal level

·         Reducing sentences for certain drug responses and apply the reductions retroactively

·         Eliminating mandatory minimum sentences and direct the United States Sentencing Commission to explore sentencing caps

·         Commutation of sentences of more individuals through the establishment of an independent clemency commission which is outside of the Department of Justice

·         Abolishing private federal prisons and reduce the use of private contractors

·         Ending cash bail

·         Nominating judges who have civil rights and criminal defense experience and appointing more women and people of color to the judiciary

·         Reducing youth incarceration through the abolishment of youth prisons. Replacing youth prisons with community-based programs by providing financial incentives to states and localities to close youth prisons and repurpose them to serve the needs of children

·         Raising the age at which a child can be prosecuted as an adult and establish minimum ages of criminal responsibility; move more youths from adult jails, courts, and prisons

              Why is  LIFERS, Inc. getting a seat at a Presidential Campaign-level Senior Policy Advisors Criminal Justice Reform decision-making table? Through conferences; Stakeholder Working Group Meetings; public policy papers; the design and co-facilitation of research-driven and solutions-based initiatives; and collaborations with academics, criminologists, legal professionals, law enforcement professionals, the Interfaith Community, concerned citizens, Criminal Justice Reform and Restorative Justice advocates and practitioners, mental health professionals, social entrepreneurs who provide resources and support services to Returning Citizens, journalists, and mental health professionals, LIFERS, Inc. is helping to drive the dialogue on Criminal Justice Reform and Restorative Justice.   Here’s how:

•           In 2005, working with the 14th World Congress of Criminology, the Pennsylvania Prison Society, and Temple University, LIFERS, Inc. hosted an all-day conference at SCI Graterford which was attended by 120 criminologists and academics throughout our global village. We presented our theory on “Ending The Culture Of Street Crime” to the group of international criminologists and academics.

•           LIFERS, Inc. hosted an Anti-Crime Summit at SCI Graterford in 2003 which was attended by 125 individuals — law enforcement professionals, prison staff, and concerned citizens— to discuss the role of incarcerated and non-incarcerated ex-offenders as public safety stakeholders.

•           Our article, "Culture Of Crime Theory And The Strategy To Eliminate It" was published in 2004 in the Prison Journal, an international publication which is subscribed to by international criminologists.

•           In partnership with the Temple University Inside-Out Exchange Program, in November 2009, LIFERS, Inc. hosted a special American Society of Criminology (ASC) Pre-Conference Seminar entitled, "Collective Transformation: Building Just Communities From The Inside-Out". The event was attended by over 70 academics.

•           LIFERS, Inc.'s research-driven and solutions-based initiatives include, but are not limited to, "Project Pipeline To Prison Youth Reclaim Their Lives As Men"; Reentry Zone; People Advancing Reintegration Recycle Works (https://parrecycleworks.org); SCI Phoenix, PA LIFERS Public Safety Initiative; LIFERS Project Of Service In Support of Commutation Release; OPERATION FRESH START™, and the “Middle Neighborhoods At-Risk Youths And Young Adults Mentoring Program, A Branch Of LIFERS, Inc. – Public Safety Initiative External Affiliations” which has been approved by and is being funded by the City of Philadelphia.  

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LIFERS INC. ■ PO Box 244 ■ Collegeville,, PA  ■19426 ■ 610-409-7980 Ext. 1661 or 1662

visit us www.lifersincpa.org