Conference tackles race and sentencing in Albany - NEWS10 ABC: Albany, New York News, Weather, Sports

Conference tackles race and sentencing in Albany

ALBANY - The Center for Law and Justice today held a press conference concerning the deepening crisis of the increasing rate of incarceration of black males in Albany.

At their South Pearl Street office, the organization described how the "War on Drugs" maintains a "Jim Crow" racial caste system, manifested in the imprisonment of scores of Albany's black youth for more than 600 years of nonviolent crimes.

"Mass incarceration has destroyed the lives of many young Albany black males, devastated their families, and decimated their communities," says Dr. Alice Green, Executive Director of the Center.

The Center presented their report, which outlines what they call "the alarming over-representation of minorities in local criminal and juvenile justice systems, wrought by recent arrest sweeps conducted in Albany's minority communities by federal, state, and local authorities.

A forum will be held October 25th, where a number of community organizations will discuss mass incarceration and other forms of racial targeting, at the Unitarian Universalist Society on Washington Avenue.