APALA

  • About
    • About
    • Our Work
    • National Executive Board
    • National Staff
    • Opportunities
    • Contact us
  • COVID-19
    • Guidance to protect AAPI workers
    • COVID-19 Fund
    • Worker Resources
    • AAPI Worker Stories
  • Membership & Chapters
    • Young Leaders Council
  • Take Action
    • Subscribe to Newsletter
    • Events
    • Donate
    • Labor Toolkit on Anti-Asian Racism
  • Media
    • Publications
    • Press Releases
    • APALA in the News
  • Shop
  • About
    • About
    • Our Work
    • National Executive Board
    • National Staff
    • Opportunities
    • Contact us
  • COVID-19
    • Guidance to protect AAPI workers
    • COVID-19 Fund
    • Worker Resources
    • AAPI Worker Stories
  • Membership & Chapters
    • Young Leaders Council
  • Take Action
    • Subscribe to Newsletter
    • Events
    • Donate
    • Labor Toolkit on Anti-Asian Racism
  • Media
    • Publications
    • Press Releases
    • APALA in the News
  • Shop

Press Releases

Coalition of AAPI Organizations Call on the Senate to Support the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act

4/19/2016

 
Washington, DC – Asians Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) Beyond Bars, a coalition of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations, community leaders, and directly impacted individuals, join 39 organizations in an effort to improve the lives of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. Particularly, they are calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring up a vote on the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S. 2123), and for all Senators to support the bill.
“As a nation, we need to make criminal justice reform a priority especially as young people of color that come from immigrant, poor, and working class families, and communities become further disproportionately impacted by our country's ’tough on crime’ policies and perpetual school to prison to deportation pipeline,” said Minh Nguyen, Executive Director of VAYLA based in New Orleans, LA. "Bringing the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act to the senate floor for a vote would mark a step forward for the many communities fighting for comprehensive criminal justice reform policies in this country. We are committed to this fight to dismantle the system of oppression for the long haul and will continue to organize to ensure racial, gender and economic justice for all.
In the last thirty years alone, America's prison population has grown from 500,000 during the 1980s to the 2.2 million incarcerated people today1. As a result, the United States now shares 25% of the world's prison population2. Specifically for AAPI communities, the prison population has increased by 250% from 1990 to 20003.
"We understand that the Southeast Asian and broader AAPI narrative is continuously overlooked in debates surrounding criminal justice reform. From high poverty rates, high school dropout rates, a history of trauma, criminalization, and an increase in deportation rates, the experiences of Southeast Asian communities pose a unique challenge for the many policy makers who have little to no understanding of the nuanced experiences of the larger AAPI population," said Cat Bao Le in Charlotte, NC, Southeast Asian Coalition's Executive Director. 
In December 2015, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA), Asian Prisoner Support Committee, National Education Association and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) published “AAPIs Behind Bars”, a first of its kind report on how the school-to-prison-to-deportation impacts AAPI communities. View the report: http://bit.ly/AAPIsBehindBars 
"As a community organization that supports formerly incarcerated AAPIs and works to end mass incarceration and the criminalization of people of color, API RISE is proud to stand with others in the AAPI community to call on Senator McConnell to bring up a vote on the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S. 2123). Given many AAPIs in prison were juveniles sentenced as adults, we hope that this is just the beginning and that future efforts will be able to impact more men and women regardless of their crimes," said Duc Ta of Asian Pacific Islander Re-Entry and Inclusion Through Support and Empowerment (API RISE) based in Los Angeles, CA.
APALA Nevada’s Ray Takeda & member of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) added, "We will continue to engage our communities in Las Vegas, throughout the state and across the country to pass S. 2123 and move sentencing and broader criminal justice reform. It is especially important for our communities to stand together on this issue if we are to ever create a system of restorative justice for all."
The full letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can be found here:http://bit.ly/1RWP4iq
1 The Sentencing Project, “Trends in U.S. Corrections”:http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_Trends_in_Corrections_Fact_sheet.pdf 
2 American Civil Liberties Union, “The Prison Crisis”:https://www.aclu.org/prison-crisis   
3 Oh, A., and Umemoto, K. AAPIs: From incarceration to re-entry. Amerasian Journal. 2005;31(3):43-59
###

Comments are closed.

    For Immediate Release

    Contact:
    apala[at]apalanet.org

    For full list of all press releases and statements, please click here.

    ​

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    April 2013
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    April 2011
    February 2011
    August 2007

    Categories

    All
    2016 Election
    AAPI Behind Bars
    AAPIs Beyond Bars
    #AAPIsResist
    Affirmative Action
    APAHM
    #BlackLivesMatter
    Black Lives Matter
    Civic Engagement
    Convention
    Corporate Accountability
    Criminal Justice Reform
    DACA
    DOL
    DREAMERs
    Economic Justice
    Education
    End Islamophobia
    Endorsements
    Every Vote Counts
    Gender Justice
    Gun Control
    Gun Violence
    Hate Crime
    Healthcare
    Health & Safety
    Immigration
    International Solidarity
    Leadership
    LGBTQ
    Living Wage
    Mass Criminalization
    Mass Incarceration
    National Executive Board
    NHPI
    Not Your Model Minority
    Police Brutality
    POTUS
    Racial Justice
    Reproductive Justice
    #ResistTrump
    Right To Organize
    SCOTUS
    TPP
    Trade Justice
    Unemployment
    Voter Education And Mobilization
    Women's Rights
    Workers' Rights
    Young Leaders Council

    RSS Feed

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
815 16th St. NW, 2nd Floor
Washington, DC 20006
202-800-5811 | info@apala.org

​Contact Us
Founded in 1992, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO, is the first and only national organization of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) workers, most of whom are union members and our allies, building power for AAPI workers and communities.
Quick Navigation
About | Our Work | Chapters | Take Action | Media & Resources 
| Shop | Privacy Policy