We, the undersigned, voice our support for the initiatives being taken by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. D.A. Bragg has clearly set out the principles under which his office will be working in “Achieving Fairness and Safety:”
- Invest more in diversion and alternatives to incarceration
- Reduce pre-trial incarceration
- Focus on accountability, not sentence length
- Limit youth in Adult Court
- Actively support those reentering the community.
This is a bold attempt to reset a racist criminal system which from its inception has led to the disproportionate and (too often) unjust arrest, conviction, and incarceration of Black, Brown and poor people. It is an approach recognizing that the criminal system can only be just when it takes into account the realities of the society we live in.
The political and media attacks on D.A. Bragg are nothing new. They are reminiscent of those launched in the past against Black people who have used their positions of authority to expose and mitigate the structural racism in this society. These forces have now begun calling the D.A. “Soft on Crime” Bragg.
We will not be bystanders to this baseless assault by those who want to maintain the racist status quo in the criminal justice system. District Attorney Alvin Bragg is not standing alone. We have his back.
List in Formation
Malik Callender, Esq., December 12th Movement
Lurie Daniels Favors, executive director, Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College, CUNY
Lennox Hinds, Esq., professor emeritus, Rutgers University
Pamela Meanes, Esq., past president of the National Bar Association
Esmeralda Simmonds, Esq. racial justice attorney, ret. founding executive director, Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College, CUNY
Roger Wareham, Esq., international secretary general, International Association Against Torture
For more information, contact December 12th Movement at 718-398-1766 or via email: D12M@AOL.COM.