Resolves of the Executive Council

Resolved, The House of ____________________ concurring, That the 78th General Convention reaffirms and renews the church’s longstanding commitment to the evaluation and reform of the federal, state, and local criminal and juvenile justice systems in the United States, as previously called for by General Convention resolutions 1985-C043 (Create a Task Force on Reform of the Criminal Justice System), 2000-B055 (Reaffirm Criminal Justice System Reform), 2003-B026 (Establish the Joint Committee on Criminal Justice), 2006-A111 (Investigate Criminal Justice Issues), and 2012-D026 (Urge Support for Bipartisan U.S. Commission on Criminal Justice); and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention declares support and advocates for the expansion of funding for treatment, alternatives to incarceration, and reintegration services to people leaving prison, and calls on Episcopalians to support and participate in mentoring and accompaniment programs for those leaving prison; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention declares opposition to mass incarceration, which perpetuates a cycle of systemic poverty in the United States through its impact on defendants, inmates, parolees, and their families; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention reaffirms and renews the call of The Episcopal Church for a moratorium on the use of for-profit private prisons, including immigration detention centers, which often set occupancy or “bed” quotas, capitalizing on the criminal, civil, and immigration incarceration of individuals; are a leading factor in the “New Jim Crow,” the disproportionate mass incarceration of youth and men and women who are Black and Brown; and feed the “Cradle to Prison Pipeline,” which depends on the use of school policing and mandatory sentencing for non-violent crimes; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention reaffirm and renew support for the repeal of mandatory-minimum sentences for nonviolent offenses; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention call for the abolition of the sentencing disparity between crack-cocaine and powder-cocaine offenses; and, as an intermediate step, urge the U.S. Congress, in accordance with the recommendation of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, to make retroactive the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act, which reduces the disparity in sentencing from previous levels; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention urges states with monetary bail bond systems to reform those systems, which rely upon often unlicensed and unregulated bail bond agents and on conditioning release from pre-trial incarceration solely on the ability to pay, discriminating against defendants who are poor; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention, acknowledging the importance of employment for reintegration into society by formerly incarcerated persons, urges policymakers to pursue legal reforms to enhance the employability of people leaving prisons; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention condemns offender-funded law enforcement practices, such as requiring newly released inmates to pay for their own court-required drug testing when they often are unemployed or underemployed, and urge policymakers to create equitable post-sentencing parole systems that remove undue financial burden on the parolee as a condition for maintaining parole; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention condemns the practice by many states of felon disenfranchisement, which removes the right of formerly incarcerated (or "returning citizens") to regain the right to vote once they complete their sentence and leave prison; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention calls for exploration and creation of restorative justice programs to transform juvenile justice systems; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention directs the Executive Council to convene a Criminal Justice Reform Coordinating Committee, comprised of church members, ecumenical partners, and outside experts; for the purpose of developing educational information, advocacy tools, and church policy to assist the dioceses and church members, in their ministry to prisoners, people returning home from prisons, and their families, and in their advocacy for comprehensive criminal justice reform at all levels of government; and directs the Coordinating Committee to report to the 79th General Convention; and be it further

Resolved, That the 78th General Convention requests the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance to consider a budget of $48,000 to support the work of such Criminal Justice Reform Coordinating Committee.