Douglass Descendants Declare War on Human Trafficking - Modern-Day Slavery

/PRNewswire/ -- "Slavery exists today and it is time to educate ourselves about the brutal exploitation people in our own communities are experiencing."

These are the words of Kenneth B. Morris, Jr., but they echo those of a famous ancestor who escaped slavery at age 20 and went on to become a defender of human rights and one of America's greatest leaders. The family of the great Abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, wants your help in ending all forms of modern-day slavery and human trafficking. "It's the world's second most profitable illegal industry, yet the buying and selling of people is a crime that's poorly understood, " says Mr. Morris, President of the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation.

Students from middle schools and high schools across the country have been selected to help the foundation launch an awareness campaign beginning December 2nd. The campaign, being touted as the beginning of a new Abolitionist Movement, happens in concert with the United Nations' International Day for the Abolition of Slavery which commemorates a 1949 UN convention to end human trafficking and the exploitation of people everywhere in the world.

How can you help? On December 2nd, young people all over the USA will communicate the message of Abolition Day to friends, family and as many people as they can reach through the Internet and the media. Non-profit organizations and government agencies that deal with this issue will use December 2nd as a day to talk about the work they do. The foundation also asks:

-- Parents to learn: how their children could become victims of human
trafficking and discuss it openly with the entire family (go to
www.fdff.org/adproject for ideas),
-- Community and church leaders to host: open forums about human
trafficking,
-- Law Enforcement to visit: schools and create programs in which
students can participate.


The Frederick Douglass Family Foundation's Chairwomen, Nettie Washington Douglass, says that, "Women and children are most frequently the victims of these tragic crimes." Mrs. Douglass is the great great granddaughter of Frederick Douglass and she is the great granddaughter of Booker T. Washington. Mr. Morris is her eldest son.

The Frederick Douglass Family Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity. For more information about the Abolition Day project go to www.fdff.org/adproject. For information about the foundation contact Robert Benz at 702-523-4845 or email rbenz@fdff.org.

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National Partnership to Meet, Evaluate Addiction Treatment as Component of New Justice Programs

/PRNewswire / -- Representatives from more than 50 federal agencies, corporations, nonprofits and academic institutions are meeting today in Washington, D.C., as part of a multi-phase process aimed at mitigating what they call the crippling effects of alcohol misuse and crime in the United States.

The third meeting for the National Partnership on Alcohol Misuse and Crime (NPAMC) will feature keynote speaker Dr. Robert DuPont, president of the Institute for Behavior and Health and former director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the National Institute of Drug Abuse. The one-day conference will focus on what NPAMC president and founder Stephen Talpins calls the vital role of addiction treatment in the management of alcohol-involved offenders. "The justice system has been trying for decades to mitigate both the economic and public safety impact of alcohol misuse," says Talpins, a former national policy director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and a former DUI prosecutor for the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office. "Research is showing, time and again, that treatment-based programs for addicted offenders are, dollar for dollar, the most effective way to reduce the extraordinary burdens placed in justice agencies and to reduce the cycle of recidivism," says Talpins. The Century Council, a NPAMC Participating Organization, is sponsoring the conference.

In addition to Dr. DuPont, the conference includes presentations on the latest clinical research on addiction treatment and its application to criminal offenders. Speakers include Dr. Rick Rosenthal, professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University; Dr. Mark Publicker, president of the Maine Society of Addiction Medicine and medical director of Addiction Treatment Services at Mercy Recovery Center; Dr. Westley Clark, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment with SAMHSA; and Judge William Dressel (retired), president of the National Judicial College.

NPAMC was founded in September 2008 with the goal of bringing together the vast expertise, research and resources dedicated to tackling the issues related to epidemic rates of alcohol misuse and crime. NPAMC is comprised of more than 50 Participating Organizations, and the aim is to provide criminal justice agencies across the U.S. with proven, evidence-based program models that will reduce the exorbitant financial burden taxpayers bare managing alcohol offenders by reducing the rate of alcohol-related recidivism.

In 2008, the Pew Center on the States (a NPAMC Participating Organization) released a study titled "One in 100: Behind Bars in America," highlighting the epidemic rates and costs of incarceration in the U.S., where one in every 100 adults is now behind bars. In 2009, Pew released "One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections," which shows that a staggering one in every 31 U.S. adults is under correctional supervision. "Alcohol-involved offenders are literally paralyzing the criminal justice system, clogging court dockets, caseloads and our jails and prisons. We can no longer afford to simply debate the issue," says Talpins.

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