sweetpea
04-07-2004, 10:31 PM
from November Coalition
www.november.org
----------------------
DrugSense FOCUS Alert #287 Tue, 30 Mar 2004
The New York Times says it as it is in the editorial below:
"Researchers Have Discovered and Rediscovered That Inmates Who Earn College Degrees Tend to Stay Out of Jail."
Thus your letters to the editor in praise of the editorial, along with
additional supportive facts, will be appreciated.
You may find facts worthy of including in your letters at or linked from
these websites or pages:
http://www.ssdp.org/
http://www.november.org/
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/prison.htm
There is much more you can do to support this issue, if you will.
Write a LTEs to the papers in your state about this issue. This is a good
example of a topic that may result in a printed letter without the need to
tie it to any other specific item the papers may have printed.
To find your state/local newspapers, go to MAP's media links page at:
http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm
Using the 'List by Area" dropdown find and bring up the list of newspapers
in your state and their LTE contact. Note those with the higher numbers of
Clippings or Excerpts as this tends to indicate a higher interest by the
paper in our issues, and thus should be your first targets.
Also consider sending them the New York Times editorial and asking the
papers when they will print a similar editorial.
And last, but not least, let your members of congress know about how you
feel about this issue. If you can, visit with the members, or visit their
state/local offices as telling them or their staff directly always shows a
deep concern, stronger than any other message.
You can use the drug policy action center easily to send a message to
Restore Student Financial Aid. Just go to this link, personalize the
message with your own thoughts and facts, and send. It is easy and fast:
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=14997
Thanks for your effort and support.
It's not what others do it's what YOU do
************************************************** *******
PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID
(Letter, email messages, etc.)
Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent letter
list (sentlte@mapinc.org) if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy
directly to MGreer@mapinc.org if you are not subscribed. Your letter will
then be forwarded to the list so others can learn from your efforts and be
motivated to follow suit.
This is _Very_ Important as it is one very effective way of gauging our
impact and effectiveness.
Subscribing to the Sent LTE list (sentlte@mapinc.org) will help you to
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as
well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts.
To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm
and/or
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form
************************************************** ********************
The New York Times EDITORIAL:
Pubdate: Tue, 30 Mar 2004
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2004 The New York Times Company
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
OILING THE REVOLVING DOOR
The American prison system will release more than 600,000 prisoners this
year - and half will commit new crimes and be back in prison three years
from now. There is at least one proven way to break the cycle. Researchers
have discovered and rediscovered that inmates who earn college degrees tend
to stay out of jail. But former offenders have found it increasingly hard
to educate themselves and gear up for productive lives since Congress began
to cut them off from federal education aid in the 1990's.
Congress may be ready to consider at least a half-step back from that
mistake. Lawmakers may not be prepared to revisit the federal ban that made
convicted felons ineligible for Pell grants, the federal tuition aid aimed
primarily at poor and middle-income students. But the House of
Representatives is at least talking about changing the 1998 law under which
more than 140,000 students have been turned down for federal student loans
because of drug offenses, some of which are minor and a decade old.
The law was not supposed to work this way. According to Representative Mark
Souder, the Indiana Republican who wrote the measure, it was aimed only at
students who committed drug crimes while receiving federal loans. But the
law has instead been applied to every applicant with a drug conviction,
even if the conviction was so minor as to carry no jail time, and even if
it occurred long before the student ever envisioned going to college. Mr.
Souder has put forth a revised version of the law that would return to his
original intent. That would be an improvement, but student aid should still
not be turned into a law enforcement weapon, particularly for those
convicted of minor offenses that a court would appropriately dismiss with a
fine or probation. Congress should repeal this law instead of just
tinkering with it. Beyond that, the country needs to back away from all
policies that prevent ex-convicts from attending college, because college
is the one sure way to get them back into the mainstream and keep them out
of jail.
www.november.org
----------------------
DrugSense FOCUS Alert #287 Tue, 30 Mar 2004
The New York Times says it as it is in the editorial below:
"Researchers Have Discovered and Rediscovered That Inmates Who Earn College Degrees Tend to Stay Out of Jail."
Thus your letters to the editor in praise of the editorial, along with
additional supportive facts, will be appreciated.
You may find facts worthy of including in your letters at or linked from
these websites or pages:
http://www.ssdp.org/
http://www.november.org/
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/prison.htm
There is much more you can do to support this issue, if you will.
Write a LTEs to the papers in your state about this issue. This is a good
example of a topic that may result in a printed letter without the need to
tie it to any other specific item the papers may have printed.
To find your state/local newspapers, go to MAP's media links page at:
http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm
Using the 'List by Area" dropdown find and bring up the list of newspapers
in your state and their LTE contact. Note those with the higher numbers of
Clippings or Excerpts as this tends to indicate a higher interest by the
paper in our issues, and thus should be your first targets.
Also consider sending them the New York Times editorial and asking the
papers when they will print a similar editorial.
And last, but not least, let your members of congress know about how you
feel about this issue. If you can, visit with the members, or visit their
state/local offices as telling them or their staff directly always shows a
deep concern, stronger than any other message.
You can use the drug policy action center easily to send a message to
Restore Student Financial Aid. Just go to this link, personalize the
message with your own thoughts and facts, and send. It is easy and fast:
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=14997
Thanks for your effort and support.
It's not what others do it's what YOU do
************************************************** *******
PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID
(Letter, email messages, etc.)
Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent letter
list (sentlte@mapinc.org) if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy
directly to MGreer@mapinc.org if you are not subscribed. Your letter will
then be forwarded to the list so others can learn from your efforts and be
motivated to follow suit.
This is _Very_ Important as it is one very effective way of gauging our
impact and effectiveness.
Subscribing to the Sent LTE list (sentlte@mapinc.org) will help you to
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as
well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts.
To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm
and/or
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form
************************************************** ********************
The New York Times EDITORIAL:
Pubdate: Tue, 30 Mar 2004
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2004 The New York Times Company
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
OILING THE REVOLVING DOOR
The American prison system will release more than 600,000 prisoners this
year - and half will commit new crimes and be back in prison three years
from now. There is at least one proven way to break the cycle. Researchers
have discovered and rediscovered that inmates who earn college degrees tend
to stay out of jail. But former offenders have found it increasingly hard
to educate themselves and gear up for productive lives since Congress began
to cut them off from federal education aid in the 1990's.
Congress may be ready to consider at least a half-step back from that
mistake. Lawmakers may not be prepared to revisit the federal ban that made
convicted felons ineligible for Pell grants, the federal tuition aid aimed
primarily at poor and middle-income students. But the House of
Representatives is at least talking about changing the 1998 law under which
more than 140,000 students have been turned down for federal student loans
because of drug offenses, some of which are minor and a decade old.
The law was not supposed to work this way. According to Representative Mark
Souder, the Indiana Republican who wrote the measure, it was aimed only at
students who committed drug crimes while receiving federal loans. But the
law has instead been applied to every applicant with a drug conviction,
even if the conviction was so minor as to carry no jail time, and even if
it occurred long before the student ever envisioned going to college. Mr.
Souder has put forth a revised version of the law that would return to his
original intent. That would be an improvement, but student aid should still
not be turned into a law enforcement weapon, particularly for those
convicted of minor offenses that a court would appropriately dismiss with a
fine or probation. Congress should repeal this law instead of just
tinkering with it. Beyond that, the country needs to back away from all
policies that prevent ex-convicts from attending college, because college
is the one sure way to get them back into the mainstream and keep them out
of jail.