The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

The American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates yesterday unanimously adopted of a resolution in support of laws, policies and programs “to prevent and remediate” bullying, cyberbullying, and harassment in schools and communities.

The Council of State Governments Justice Center recently released recommendations on lowering crime rates, reincarceration and corrections spending.

The National Summit on Justice Reinvestment and Public Safety focuses on providing solutions for a correctional system in crisis.  The U.S. prison and jail population reached a record 2.3 million in 2008.   More than seven million people, or one in every 31 Americans,  are under some form of correctional control, with rates substantially higher in minority populations.  Corrections spending is one of the fastest growing line items in state budgets, second only to medical care.  Despite this, rates of recidivism remain unchanged, with almost 40 percent of released prisoners returning to jail within three years. 

Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, spoke Tuesday at the State Department with Luis CdeBaca, ambassador-at-large to monitor and combat trafficking in persons, on ways of combating human trafficking and modern day slavery. The discussion was part of an ongoing video program by the Bureau of Public Affairs entitled "Conversations with America,” which aims to provide insight into how the leaders of national nongovernmental organizations engage with senior State Department officials around foreign policy and global issues.

A report recently released by an Illinois state government commission examines the impact of state drug laws on minority communities and recommends possible solutions to the overrepresentation of Blacks and Latinos within the state criminal justice system.

The Center for American Progress has produced an infographic comparing the budget cuts to 10 federal safety programs being proposed by House Republicans against various tax breaks that primarily benefit corporations and the wealthy.

For example, the $8.9 billion in proposed cuts to low-income housing programs is equal to $8.9 billion in tax breaks given to people who pay mortgage interest on a vacation home.

Image source: The Center for American Progress

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on Thursday appointed 28 education, advocacy, business, and law professionals – including five members of the Executive Committee of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights – to the Department of Education's Equity and Excellence Commission.

Civil rights and consumer groups are pushing back on efforts to limit the relief that struggling homeowners could potentially get out of a settlement with banks engaging in abusive and illegal servicing practices that threaten millions of homes.

Despite increased attention to the unique challenges faced by these regions, there were still a number of problems that hampered 2010 Census operations in the Gulf Coast, the Mississippi Delta, and the Texas Colonias, according to a new Leadership Conference Education Fund report.

The National Center for Transgender Equity (NCTE) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force recently released “Injustice at Every Turn,” an  extensive study of the transgender and gender non-conforming community that shows tragic social and economic trends indicating injustices and discrimination against transgender people on a massive scale. 

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights sent a letter to Chairman Peter King expressing concern about the upcoming hearings scheduled in the Committee on Homeland Security on the “radicalization of the American Muslim community and homegrown terrorists.”