Dear Delegates,

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This committee is focused on tackling the failures of the criminal justice system.  That means discussing the issues with felon voting, police brutality, and the war on drugs. All of these subtopics have a similarity: they all mostly affect the African American community of the United States. 

War on Drugs: When evaluating crack and cocaine the differences in their molecular components are substantially small, which begs the question: Why is possessing crack more heavily penalized than possessing cocaine? It might have to do with the fact that crack is more closely associated with black users, while cocaine is more closely associated to with white users. 

Disenfranchisement: According to 2013 polls, Democrats have eleven times more black voters than Republicans. African Americans are more likely to vote for change in politics since they are the ones that would benefit from it. For this reason, it seems logical for conservatives to support the racist laws of the Criminal Justice System that continue to racially segregate African Americans in the United States. Without many African Americans voting, conservatives will maintain power and therefore black people will not be well represented in the government. 

Police Brutality: Time and time again, videos go viral over a police officer above their jurisdiction. 1991: Rodney King, 2009: Oscar Grant, 2010: Danny Rodriguez, 2014: Bryce Masters, 2014: Michael Johansen. These are some of the hundreds of people “murdered” by police officers. There are group activists such as Black Lives Matter trying to make a different. Will the senate help stop police brutality? 

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Your Chair,

Naomi Boruchowicz