MAY I BORROW A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME???
We're inviting you to partake in this petition on behalf of Nasir Salaam. At the age of 17 (2007) Nasir committed a crucial mistake that has impacted his young life for years to come. Being as though there are two justice systems, his two adult Caucasian codefendants received slaps on their wrist. One received less than 3 years in prison and his girlfriend (at the time) spent a total of 8 days incarcerated, while Nasir received 40 years in prison! We're calling to action the judges who makes these unfair rulings and the legislators who designs these laws to appropriately apply them in a proportionate manner no matter what race you may be. Nasir's private attorney at the time of his arrest coerced him into a plea that doubled his sentence. With that came a confession that was suppose to have been apart of the plea deal, but instead used against him at the time of his trial. The courts has been denying his appeals for 14 years to date even after his former attorney admitted twice on the stand that Nasir was supposed to have received a plea that would have brought him home no later than 34 years of age.

New juvenile laws have been introduced to legislators based on new scientific brain evidence that holds juveniles less culpable than an adult. Why? Because when you're a juvenile (less than 18 years of age) your brain is still in its developmental stage. Attach that by being influenced from your neighborhood, drugs, peer pressure, unstable home, lack of education, etcetera, then you are more likely to have a negative outcome than a positive one. While majority of states have passed reasonable juvenile reform laws, New Jersey is still indecisive with its laws when it comes to the very same evidence that they rely on when it is used against a defendant; scientific data.

While incarcerated, Nasir has rehabilitated himself by obtaining his highschool diploma, authoring 2 books, attending countless programs that were made available, and has remained trouble free by developing good habits that are transferable to a successful transition on home. Nasir's goal is to not only redeem himself, but show with actions that those who are in a similar position like his can eradicate the stigma that second chances are undeserving. The only way this works is participation by the people; YOU! By simply signing and sharing this petition it can garnish the right set of eyes and ears that raises attention to a system that should be rehabilitating instead of decimating. Thank you for the time it took to read this.
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." ~James Baldwin