By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – With criminal justice and the disproportionate arrests of people of color in the news the last several years, you have to go back thirty years to see the legislation a Springfield interfaith group wants to repeal.

Members of the Faith Coalition for the Common Good, who staged a march and news conference Friday, say the Crime Bill of 1994 favors locking up people instead of finding ways to keep them out of prison.

Quonie Barney of Springfield says shortly after the bill took effect, he was imprisoned on a petty drug charge.

“It was hard for me to get a job. It was hard for me to get back in contact with my family,” Barney said. “It was hard for me just to maintain in society when I was released.”

Barney said the prison system sent him on his way with $25 and a bus ticket, with no help in transitioning back to society.

How could then-President Bill Clinton let this happen?

“Fearmongering,” said the Faith Coalition’s Margaritta Fultz, in the wake of the “war on drugs.” She said her group has been in contact with state and federal lawmakers about a repeal.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].