tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40728733047127941402024-03-10T23:23:10.401-04:00Just Policy BlogJustice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.comBlogger164125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-54800021792081908902019-05-10T16:13:00.003-04:002019-05-11T16:23:30.333-04:00Mother's Day in Prison<br />
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<span style="text-indent: 0px;"><i>Thanks to JPI Intern <a href="http://www.twitter.com/MadelineTitus" target="_blank">Madeline Titus</a> for both authoring this blog post and creating an incredible podcast, </i><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-528225577/mothers-day-women-and-prison" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Mothers in Prison</a><span style="font-size: 10.6667px;">, </span></span><i style="text-indent: 0px;">where she interviews three women all deeply connected to this issue.</i></div>
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While millions will be celebrating
Mother’s Day this Sunday across the country, many of those celebrations will be
limited due to the impact of the criminal justice system. Sixty-two percent of
women in prison and <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2018/05/13/mothers-day-2018/">80
percent</a> of women in jails are mothers, and more often than not, they are
their children’s primary caretaker. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even as criminal justice reform has gained momentum
in the U.S., women and various gender identities are often not included in the
conversations. The history of mass incarceration is deeply tied to identities
of race, age, gender, and socioeconomic status. While justice policy has traditionally
taken a ‘one-size fits all’ approach, current reforms need to be tailored to
the unique needs of different identities are their experiences, including many
women’s experience in prison as mothers. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Before we can effectively tackle
needed reforms, we must first understand the historical context of women in
prison.<span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;"> H</span></span>istorically, incarcerated women were often treated in
exile and in harsh conditions. For example, in <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Auburn
State Prison in New York, in the 1820s women were often confined to the attic
with their only interactions being with other incarcerated men and male prison
guards who were known to be physically and sexually abusive. Many of these
horrific conditions led to the push for separate female facilities, resulting
in the </span><a href="https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/44337_10_%28final%29.pdf"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">first facility</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> for women
at <span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">Mount
Pleasant Prison Annex</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"> </span>in Ossining, New York in 1839; and the first female only prison
in 1873, in Indiana. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">With the rise of female only prisons, a new field
of scholarly work began emerging in 1895, </span><a href="https://ijcst.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/ijcst/article/download/39737/35977"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">female criminology</span></i></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">, which </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">examined
women, prison, and deviance largely through existing societal gender norms
steeped in the sexism of the era. Scholars such as Cesare Lombroso published
research arguing that, ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">women who engage
in criminal behavior are at different levels of sinfulness, and that they are
more masculine in appearance, cold, calculating and have manipulative
personalities.</i>’ W.I. Thomas argued in the early 1900s that ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">women were morally inferior’</i>. And in the
1920s </span><a href="https://ijcst.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/ijcst/article/download/39737/35977"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sigmund Freud’s theories</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> of
sexuality lead him to conclude that, ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">women
who are deviant are doing so to become more masculine in an attempt to make up
for their biological <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/null" style="mso-comment-date: 20190508T1347; mso-comment-parent: 1; mso-comment-reference: MT_2;"></a><span style="mso-comment-continuation: 2;">inferiority</span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">.</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Although
these theories seem ridiculous now, they established the basis for policy and practice
in corrections systems throughout the country. As a result of limited research
on women’s experiences combined with the ever-present </span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/freedom-riders-jim-crow-laws/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jim Crow laws</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> of the
south, </span>two distinct corrections institutions for women emerged in the 20<sup>th</sup>
century: “reformatories” and “custodial institutions.” White women were often
sent to reformatories for rehabilitation where they received vocational
training in cooking, sewing, and cleaning, so they would be able to reenter
into society with workforce skills. Women of color, however, were more likely
to be sent to custodial institutions, which were often seen simply as
warehouses, and reserved for those not amenable to rehabilitation. In addition,
women from custodial institutions were often sent to work on state-owned
plantations in horrible conditions, reminiscent of slavery. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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As time progressed, racialized
policies resulting in extreme sentencing and the targeting of people of color
as part of the ‘War on Drugs’ resulted in the mass incarceration that has
emerged in late 20<sup>th</sup> and early 21<sup>st</sup> century. Today, drug
and property offenses are more than half the charges for which women are incarcerated,
while violent offenses account for only about a quarter of incarcerated <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018women.html">women</a>. As criminal
justice policy reform is taking hold around the country, women are too often being
left out of the reform conversation and ultimately left behind, with many
states experiencing historic growth in female incarceration while male
incarceration rates are declining. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Similar to what was seen in the
early 20<sup>th</sup> century, women today are still being compared to men,
when in reality they have different lived experiences and are incarcerated for
different reasons. Effective policy needs to take into consideration men, women
and other gender identities, in addition to race and socioeconomic status.
There still remains a significant lack of academic and political interest in
researching women’s involvement in the justice system, and the research that is
being done, often makes broad generalizations and fails to acknowledge gender
as an important factor. This results in policy recommendations that are largely
based on male experiences and simply applied to women and other gender
identities, regardless of their effectiveness. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Many justice system-involved women
have experienced violence, trauma, and mental and physical health issues that have
contributed to their situations and life choices. They often struggle with
finding housing, employment and stability as a parent, facing limited
programming and stigmatization. With women currently the fastest growing
segment of the prison population, it is time we start thinking differently
about women in prison. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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As we seek reforms to address mass
incarceration in the United States, it is critically important to keep in mind
what it means to be a woman caught up in the justice system, and especially a mother.
As Father Gregory Boyle of Homeboys Industries stated that, <span style="color: black;">“the ultimate measure of health in any community might well
reside in our ability to stand in awe at what folks have to carry rather than
in judgement of how they carry it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">On this
Mother’s Day let’s stand in awe of mothers, and recommit ourselves to ensuring
that incarcerated mothers and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i>
women are treated with the dignity, respect, and fairness in the justice system
that they deserve. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>Interested in learning more? <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-528225577/mothers-day-women-and-prison" target="_blank">Listen to our podcast on Mothers in
Prison</a></i><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;"><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-528225577/mothers-day-women-and-prison" target="_blank"> </a></span></span></span><i>where
we talk to three women all deeply connected to this issue. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br />Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-718343836037096252018-10-17T10:07:00.004-04:002018-10-17T10:07:57.901-04:00<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
TODAY, October 17, at 6 PM, tune in to WPFW's "Led By Love" segment to hear our Executive Director <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1482518646&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARC3zizWISULK9JDbU01eXuMxKzXmGczxJZWq9JKoRLHxrM9X8iFcycWv24L_5bc6GSzqKBCFPGz6CES%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/marc.schindler.351?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARC3zizWISULK9JDbU01eXuMxKzXmGczxJZWq9JKoRLHxrM9X8iFcycWv24L_5bc6GSzqKBCFPGz6CES&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARB4EKfilG5M9GbsvDCcqoQzhjpqpkBi6xDyL3FFWio3UX_xOtuha3h2B_9KoHe7OL7rOVU3mkKibq8OOt6_6dmDm2kyUk1bPofJOsKdgoym3NcEGSD4GC6agNEeGqCeseL0PmizMOPKszo9XYWpUxS559JO8WrLEpDB43ZIXWhFe46txCXixbHVFTygVUPL_i0H8iWehA50ZZEwmzx8li62efI" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Marc Schindler</a>, along with National Center for Victims of Crime's Executive Director Mai Fernandez, discussing our new report “Smart, Safe, and Fair: Strategies to Prevent Youth Violence, Heal Victims of Crime, and Reduce Racial Inequality." They will address how the justice system treats youth charged with violent offenses in ways which are unnecessarily expensive, ineffective and unjust.</div>
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<span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Listen live: </span><a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://bit.ly/2xZ5WkG" dir="ltr" href="https://t.co/VOda51WPh1" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #077a39; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/2xZ5WkG"><span class="tco-ellipsis"></span><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;">http://</span><span class="js-display-url">bit.ly/2xZ5WkG</span><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"></span><span class="tco-ellipsis"><span class="invisible" style="font-size: 0px; line-height: 0;"> </span></span></a></div>
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Read the full report at <a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="async" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2oHkEYI%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0d2slW3mmzys-OhimdqDnhYkQFst6y__QG8SoJdtPmDe6Nv3yNz8OuJiI&h=AT2GPnyQHXODRTgoKNN7bUXEVNHEUYnrNtn92HI9gceAwTY3drQBJJdaMWzlxIa_cgscZVANSweFuI1TMJnu55OOuJicieguhmsXcpYrQVCQTuAzV4Pc_NUTM_CUuFRY7ivLGYUPK5RRgZgT4JImCrzHEOaqlcDiXJltPqvFwodCKIaUKCUJNclUh-bXu14p64hqlZlw5fTMjQaAUCOOMN3sl-MtZrHpyiPOwkliKaAsi0LITKQq_WLNoCmgg2CCi9_pIDtG8fYQfWRVsp-CFOUSFJN-kosl2QAqpAexzGuAwhTKucY_Dg6UdM8uSF9vdfOcCLHYKvgYDNWN1hvrMwkmHt6ZbbhK8D_5qoq4uX6XurmvFa1JQ1GoyGOcwWKMy-ZbIoo_gZ05uQjtrOulOplbGRUbhXy8QpVfvGj09xDbezb-8TTOtJ8LnetKimTgNqijFR9vvM61Ng" href="https://bit.ly/2oHkEYI?fbclid=IwAR0d2slW3mmzys-OhimdqDnhYkQFst6y__QG8SoJdtPmDe6Nv3yNz8OuJiI" rel="noopener nofollow" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">bit.ly/2oHkEYI</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM6ztoNa1wumnWXwlaRP6NRlnMOyc-JbRmYUXcP1-VepKHQmBJqKbkR5j31NNps3UBzEzK_QNt0n-5XWi0wxh0QACUmHh5E6377Yo7MLy7SGJLwxVIljePMXTz8OY23dckTkVdPODKMFhp/s1600/Media+Led+By+Love+Smarter+Safer+Cover+Copy+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM6ztoNa1wumnWXwlaRP6NRlnMOyc-JbRmYUXcP1-VepKHQmBJqKbkR5j31NNps3UBzEzK_QNt0n-5XWi0wxh0QACUmHh5E6377Yo7MLy7SGJLwxVIljePMXTz8OY23dckTkVdPODKMFhp/s320/Media+Led+By+Love+Smarter+Safer+Cover+Copy+5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-19008782713348000242018-07-20T08:41:00.000-04:002018-07-20T08:42:31.944-04:00New Resource: Abell Foundation Report<br />
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<a href="https://www.abell.org/"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Abell Foundation</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black;"> has
released a new report, </span><a href="https://www.abell.org/sites/default/files/files/Juvenile%20Justice%20Report%206_26.pdf"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Fact Check: A Survey of Available Data on Juvenile Crime in
Baltimore City,”</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: black;">collecting and analyzing available data on</span><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129;"> trends in juvenile crime rates, arrests, and
outcomes in Baltimore City.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black;">The report
found that overall juvenile arrests are down in Baltimore, but </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">juvenile
arrests for violent crimes are up. However, for the first four months of 2018,
total juvenile arrests were down 34 percent in comparison to arrest rates of the
first four months of 2017.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In addition to arrest rates, the report
also examines court cases for Baltimore’s youth. They found that the number of youth
referred to adult court—indicating involvement in a violent crime—has increased
slightly from 2013 (156 cases) to 2017 (216 cases). Even with that increase,
less than 10 percent of juvenile arrests in 2017 were for crimes eligible for
referral to adult court. While these numbers certainly need to be addressed, this
directly contradicts the political narrative of a booming juvenile crime wave in
Baltimore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And there has been an increase in the return
of juveniles originally charged in adult court back to juvenile court (19
percent in 2013 to 67 percent in 2017). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The report concludes
that to better </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">understand the level of juvenile
violence in Baltimore, they need more access to data about juvenile records—such
as recidivism data for youth charged with violent crimes. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/null" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.abell.org/sites/default/files/files/Juvenile%20Justice%20Report%206_26.pdf" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="610" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYw-uX2NHMGreJd8hmPX2KkU1MY_MIYOTqxxaXurgnDk2RN2pM3D9mmDFZiw3pbBglcHVThVC65kGBAMNMNMMkPQ_3yeWYGPLzmsLIqsm8iLZxr1KYpaMbUWs468FyFgkuKrbyvgukm1hm/s400/abell+report+juv+crime+rates.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-36089823922207235822018-07-18T10:13:00.000-04:002018-07-20T08:42:45.366-04:00Upcoming Event: Ending Incarceration of Women and Girls: How We Get There - Baltimore 7.21.18<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Upcoming event - this
Saturday, July 21, there will be a “Ending Incarceration of Women and Girls:
How We Get There” town hall event in Baltimore. This event is to raise
awareness about the current state of incarceration of women and girls in
Maryland, and will addressing key issues such as ending women and girls
incarceration, ending bail, alternatives to incarceration, re-entry, an<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/null" name="_GoBack"></a>d voting/civil rights for returning citizens. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">This event is free and will
be held at the Impact Hub Baltimore, 10 East North Avenue from 2:00 PM to 5:00
PM EDT. For more information and </span><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ending-incarceration-for-women-and-girls-how-we-get-there-tickets-47889175814"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">to pre-register for the event click here</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">, you can also email <a href="mailto:lanefrazee@marylandjusticeproject.org">lanefrazee@marylandjusticeproject.org</a> with
any questions you may have.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">This event is sponsored by </span><a href="http://www.marylandjusticeproject.org/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Maryland Justice Project</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">, </span><a href="http://www.out4justice.org/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Out for Justice</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">, and the
National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ending-incarceration-for-women-and-girls-how-we-get-there-tickets-47889175814" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="863" data-original-width="1075" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzrHwbUQkdU0L_nR0z-ijm4GhuxCS7n9T2QbE39sYfmdA1wX8Rpn50hsGLB8cUseCXcP3ZqDZx9xIlXXdZWlLRRQvwm4BhEJHDr466YhrHvbL2ZvkeSbfmp8_mYtyMt7dGGKyLnO_vNDi/s400/incarc+women+event.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-53669817115116716852018-07-16T10:35:00.001-04:002018-07-20T08:42:57.661-04:00Upcoming Event: 6th Annual Baltimore Back to the Neighborhood Expungement Clinic<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Join us for the 6th Annual Baltimore Back to the Neighborhood Expungement Clinic July 25th 9am-1pm at American Brewery, 1701 N. Gay Street, for free legal assistance with expungements, voter registration, employment resources and information about civil forfeiture police misconduct and money bail. For more information please contact Mary-Denise Davis at <a href="mailto:mdavis2@opd.state.md.us">mdavis2@opd.state.md.us</a> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">A big thank you to our partners the <a href="http://www.opd.state.md.us/" target="_blank">Maryland Office of the Public Defender</a>, <a href="https://www.nacdl.org/" target="_blank">National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers</a> and the <a href="https://www.abell.org/" target="_blank">Abell Foundation</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Please share with anyone you know who may be interested. See you next week!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-80371003841740910492018-04-10T11:07:00.001-04:002018-04-10T11:07:22.859-04:00Survey of New Resources<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Mass Incarceration Starts Young - </span></b><b><a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/caught-podcast-trailer" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Podcast</span></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"The United States locks up more people than any country in the world. That starts young: Roughly a million kids a year get caught up in the criminal justice system. In <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Caught</em>, a new podcast from WNYC, we'll listen as some of those young people tell their stories over nine episodes. They'll help us understand how we got here--and how we might help, rather than just punish troubled youth. Welcome to <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice</em>. <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice</em> is supported, in part, by the Anne Levy Fund, Margaret Neubart Foundation, the John and Gwen Smart Family Foundation, and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project." <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/caught-podcast-trailer" target="_blank"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Listen now.</span></a></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Costliest Choice - <a href="http://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/cfjc/documents/communitysafetymarch.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Report</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The <a href="http://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/cfjc/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Children and Family Justice Center</span></a> has published the third
installment of their year-long series, Community Safety & the Future of
Illinois’ Youth Prisons. This issue, “<a href="http://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/cfjc/documents/communitysafetymarch.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">The Costliest Choice: Economic Impact ofYouth Incarceration</span></a>,” discusses why Illinois should depart from youth
incarceration and instead invest in strengthening Illinois youth, families, and
communities – restoring much needed services damaged by the state budget
crisis. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Illinois’ use of five state prisons – incarcerating about 425
juveniles – has a direct operational cost of about $514 per youth, per day.
This cost does not including education, services, or aftercare. However,
alternatives to youth incarceration save money up front and provide long-term
safety benefits. The report states “youth incarceration is the costliest
response to delinquency – in upfront costs, hidden costs, youth outcomes, and
societal costs. Even for high-risk youth, the costs of the choice to imprison
outstrip other, less damaging approaches.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Strong communities are key to success.” Illinois needs to
increase funding for youth justice reinvestment programs and expand the
capacity of local nonprofits that provide state social services to youth and
families. </span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Vincent Schiraldi on
Parole and Probation<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Vincent Schiraldi started his career in criminal justice reform in
1981, although he always knew that he wanted to dedicate his life to helping
people, or as he humbly states to be “in the human services field.” Schiraldi
started working at the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, and
then went on to create two nonprofits, the Center on Juvenile and Criminal
Justice in San Francisco and our very own Justice Policy Institute. Today, at
the <a href="http://justicelab.iserp.columbia.edu/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Justice Lab at Columbia University</span></a> he is a leading voice in criminal
justice reform, specifically in regards to parole and probation. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Schiraldi has two reports out on parole and probation, </span><a href="http://justicelab.iserp.columbia.edu/img/Too_Big_to_Succeed_Report_FINAL.pdf"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">one from a national perspective</span></a><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and </span><a href="http://justicelab.iserp.columbia.edu/img/Less_is_More_in_New_York_Report_FINAL.pdf"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the other focused on New York
State</span></a><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.
Since the creation of the parole and probation<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> systems,
they have deviated from their original intent and have become a trigger to mass
incarceration. Schiraldi states that “nationwide there are almost five million
people on probation and parole. That’s more people than live in half of U.S.
states, one in 53 adults. It was never meant to be that big and it’s now a
processing-back-to-prison environment.”</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In </span><a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/03/14/the-recidivism-trap"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">an article that Schiraldi
co-authored with Jeffrey Butts</span></a><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, director of the Research and Evaluation Center
at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, they state that when looking at the
quality of justice, we often only measure its success by recidivism rate -
which is “inadequate and often misleading.” Instead of focusing on recidivism
rates, we should focus on alternatives to incarceration and improving what
systems we already have in place - such as parole and probation, which were
originally created to help people who are incarcerated. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Highlights -</span></span></div>
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<li><span style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">“[Probation and parole were] originally meant to be alternatives
to prison, they now have become tripwires and triggers to mass incarceration.”</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">“Nationwide there are almost five million people on probation and
parole. That’s more people than live in half of U.S. states, one in 53 adults.
It was never meant to be that big and it’s now a processing-back-to-prison
environment.”</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">On Less is More in New York report: “Twenty leading probation and
parole administrators signed on to our report, which calls for ultimately cutting
the systems they run <i>in half</i> and to reduce technical violations that
lead back to prison.”</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">“There’s a lot of research showing that community cohesion and
resilience makes communities safer, not just more police and more prisons.”</span></li>
<li><span style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">On Rikers Island: “New York’s already the least incarcerated and
safest big city in the country. We’re going to do something that no U.S. city
has done.”</span></li>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Finding Strength Through Poetry - <a href="https://wamu.org/story/18/02/23/minds-still-free-former-prisoners-find-strength-poetry/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Poetry and Profiles</span></a></span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Once you’ve been behind bars, words can feel like freedom.” </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Formerly incarcerated people are now finding a new voice through
poetry, thanks to the Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop. This workshop
helps young men find a way to give expression to their lives during and after
incarceration. Since 2002, the program has worked with teenagers charged and
imprisoned as adults in the D.C. Jail and the federal prison system. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You can listen or read some of the members’ poetry here: </span><a href="https://wamu.org/story/18/02/23/minds-still-free-former-prisoners-find-strength-poetry/"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://wamu.org/story/18/02/23/minds-still-free-former-prisoners-find-strength-poetry/</span></a><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-30230563603775970122017-11-20T14:42:00.000-05:002017-11-20T14:50:54.801-05:00Risk Takers: How did the justice system change to meet the needs of the youth population?<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">This blog is a part of a series dedicated to
celebrate JPI’s 20</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> Anniversary. <a href="http://www.aecf.org/people/bart-lubow/" target="_blank">Bart Lubow’s</a> piece is excerpted
from comments he delivered at the <a href="http://www.aecf.org/work/juvenile-justice/jdai/" target="_blank">Annie E. Casey Foundation’s JuvenileDetention Alternatives Initiative</a> (JDAI) conference in Orlando, Florida in April
2017 on the occasion of JDAI’s 25</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> anniversary. JPI has been proud
to partner with JDAI since its inception. We are particularly thankful to the
leadership of Bart and other champions from the Casey Foundation and around the
country, who made this success story possible and continue the work</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">.......................................................................................................................................................... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Twenty-five
years ago, the juvenile justice system was struggling to survive. It was widely condemned as soft, ineffective,
and unaccountable. Elected officials
across the country, reacting to a brief spike in violent crime, ridiculed and
diminished the system, most obviously by passing a slew of laws that took the
most serious cases and mandated that they be prosecuted and incarcerated in the
adult criminal justice system. The core notion behind the creation of juvenile
justice—that youth were different from adults and deserved a system that
recognized those developmental differences—was at risk of being abandoned. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">For
a variety of reasons juvenile justice did deserve criticism.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">While it was perceived as soft on crime,
juvenile justice was in fact locking up rather minor law
violators—misdemeanants, probation violators and status offenders--in jails and
prisons which we euphemistically called “youth study centers” and “training
schools” but which were endemic with abuse and neglect like their adult
counterparts.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">None of this would have
been allowed had the youth in question looked like, spoke like, lived near or
were related to people like me.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Indeed,
the collective complexion of those who were grist for this mill was darkening
at a rapid rate, with more and more Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American
youth being hauled before a system that routinely acted as if youth of color
were all dangerous and unredeemable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">From this, the Annie E. Casey Foundation
began the <span style="color: #222222;">Juvenile Detention Alternatives
Initiative. JDAI <span class="tgc">required a huge political risk, a major shift
in the way we approach pretrial detention for youth, and the development of new
procedures and programs to better serve America's troubled young people.</span></span>
We believed that the basic myth driving the incarceration explosion—that
locking up large numbers of people was the pathway to public safety—was
fundamentally wrong. Second, we argued
that the use of detention was driven first and foremost by the policies and
practices embraced by adults, not the behavior of the kids. Third, we hypothesized that a focus on
detention reform—while limited given the many problems with juvenile
justice—would spill over to affect other issues. Finally, we argued that no system which
claimed to represent “justice” could have any credibility as long as it was
perceived as biased and unfair in its treatment of youth of color. <span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Now
there are about half as many youth locked in juvenile facilities as there were
25 years ago, and juvenile crime rates are a modest fraction of what they were
as recently as 15 years ago. If nothing
else, over the past 25 years JDAI has demonstrated that it is possible to
radically reduce confinement without sacrificing public safety. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">The
entire trajectory of juvenile justice has changed in the past two and one-half
decades. States across the country are
now raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction and rolling back mandatory
transfer laws, rather than pulling more youth into adult courts and
prisons. More and better tools are being
used to inform decisions and stronger, more innovative alternatives have
expanded the range and effectiveness of options in lieu of confinement. At the national level, the U.S. Supreme Court
abolished the death penalty for crimes committed before age 18 and declared
mandatory juvenile life without parole sentences unconstitutional. A movement to end solitary confinement has
emerged with interest at the local, state and federal levels of government. Over the past 25 years, juvenile justice,
rather than retreating under criticism, has increasingly served as the
laboratory for more enlightened and effective approaches to crime, some of
which are now infiltrating many state adult justice systems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">While
JDAI, is not responsible for all the progress of the past 25 years, it has been
in the center of much of it and it at least deserves credit for forsaking the
myths and excuses of the past and for helping to nourish a wide array of
practitioners, advocates and researchers whose ideas and voices were hidden
during the dark days of the so-called super-predator era. We have learned many
things relevant to a better future, not the least of which is to not be
constrained by the limits that the status quo would impose on our
thinking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">We
have come very far, but not nearly far enough for this system to pass what we
have come to refer to as the “my child” test.
There can be no let-up in our clamor for change, not while lives are at
stake and communities suffer the effects of mass incarceration. The clamor must now come, first and foremost,
from the next generation of reformers. All enterprises of this scale and
influence are built from collective, collaborative work. All of us stand on the shoulders of others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3c3c; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Bart Lubow is a Senior Consultant with the
Annie E. Casey Foundation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3c3c3c; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">With almost 40 years
of improving criminal justice systems, Bart Lubow served as director of the
Annie E. Casey Foundation’s </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.aecf.org/work/juvenile-justice"><span style="color: #829b14; text-decoration-line: none;">Juvenile
Justice Strategy Group</span></a></span><span style="color: #3c3c3c; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> from 2009 until 2014. Today, as a senior consultant, he
supports the Foundation’s juvenile justice reform agenda, which includes
reducing unnecessary confinement in order to minimize long-term consequences of
incarceration, prevent family disruption and increase opportunities to
positively alter the life trajectories of youth in the juvenile system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-3806506355865083642017-06-19T10:30:00.001-04:002017-06-19T10:41:29.099-04:00Rethinking the School to Prison Pipeline<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">By Michelle Manno<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">JPI Guest
Blogger<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Last year’s </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/persistent-disparities-found-through-comprehensive-civil-rights-survey-underscore-need-continued-focus-equity-king-says"><span style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">civil rights survey</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"> by the
Department of Education revealed some disturbing trends: Out-of-school
suspensions for black students are common for preschoolers and a pattern of
disciplining black students more than white students is consistent from
kindergarten through the 12th grade. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Advocates for equity in education highlight the
fact that many school districts emphasize the policing of students as opposed
to counseling and are more committed to hiring security officers than school
counselors. This approach helps create a “school-to-prison pipeline” that
impacts students throughout their educational careers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">“Suspending a student for misbehavior usually
makes things worse,” says Joshua Aronson, <span style="background: white; color: #222222;">associate professor of applied
psychology at NYU Steinhardt, which recently launched </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://counseling.steinhardt.nyu.edu/"><span style="color: #3366ff; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Counseling@NYU</span></a></span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">“</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Not only does the child miss
instruction, but he or she is rejected by the community in a very public
fashion.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">The Department of Education survey <span style="background: white; mso-highlight: white;">collected data from public
school districts during the 2013-2014 school year, </span>and their </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/persistent-disparities-found-through-comprehensive-civil-rights-survey-underscore-need-continued-focus-equity-king-says"><span style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">analysis</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"> found
that black preschool children were 3.6 times more likely than white children to
receive one or more out-of-school suspensions. In the K-12 years, black
students were suspended at rates almost four times higher than <span style="color: #030a13;">white students</span> and expelled from school without
educational services at a rate that was nearly double. They were more than two
times more likely to be disciplined through the involvement of school security
officers, such as a school-related arrest. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">While policing in schools disproportionately
affects students of color, research shows that it doesn’t increase safety. The
Justice Policy Institute released a report on the school to prison pipe in 2011
titled <i><a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/educationunderarrest_fullreport.pdf">Education
Under Arrest: The Case Against Police in Schools</a>.</i> They found that many
schools have “School Resource Officers” who spend their time acting as law
enforcement at schools. The presence of SRO’s resulted in disproportionate
punishment rates for students of color, including suspensions and arrests,
without actually making schools safer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">The Need for a Long-Term Solution<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Some factors may be contributing to the fact
that black students are disciplined at higher rates, including the racial bias
of teachers. <span style="color: #030a13;">Yale University’s Walter Gilliam has
spent more than a decade studying this trend, and he </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/06/20/482472535/why-preschool-suspensions-still-happen-and-how-to-stop-them"><span style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">told NPR</span></a></span><span style="color: #030a13; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">that most adults interpret disruptive behaviors differently and that
these perceptions depend on the race of the child.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">“We tend to
hold African-American children as more culpable,” he said in the article. “And
we think they're older than they are.” </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">And focusing on discipline as a method of
dealing with behavior issues can have a long-term effect on students in many
ways. They are too frequently absent from the classroom and miss out on all of
the lifelong benefits that are derived from academic achievements. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">“This punishes the child and marks them as a
problem without uncovering the underlying reasons for the misbehavior, which
typically is an unmet need,” says Aronson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">UCLA’s </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/the-high-cost-of-harsh-discipline-and-its-disparate-impact"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white;">Civil Rights Project</span></a></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> framed such sentiments in some hard data. A study
by the Project </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/education/2016/06/07/3785187/new-student-discipline-data/"><span style="background: white; color: #1155cc;">shows that</span></a></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> student
suspensions cost the nation $35 billion in lost taxpayer revenue — by linking
them to the “cost of keeping people in prison and paying for health care, since
students who get suspended are more likely to drop out of school, earn less
money, and get involved in the criminal justice system.”</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">A Counseling-Focused Approach<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #030a13; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">An effective alternative to
discipline is to give teachers support to better address students’ behavioral
issues, and school counselors play a key role in such a strategy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">“Schools need the resources to find out what
students need and the resources to meet those needs,” says Aronson. “This
may cost more in the short-term, but it is a mere fraction of the cost of
incarcerating the high percentage of suspended students who will end up in
prison.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_gjdgxs"></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">One example, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/06/20/482472535/why-preschool-suspensions-still-happen-and-how-to-stop-them"><span style="background: white; color: blue;">outlined by NPR</span></a></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">, is Van
Ness Elementary in Washington, D.C., which trains teachers in Conscious
Discipline and provides them with a support network that includes a staff social
worker, a psychologist, and weekly visits from a clinical psychologist. Every
pre-K classroom at the school also has a “safe space” where kids who are being
disruptive can be peaceful and calm down — and preschoolers are taught calming
techniques, like “breathing slowly into a pinwheel to make it spin.”</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Unfortunately,
in the current framework, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/persistent-disparities-found-through-comprehensive-civil-rights-survey-underscore-need-continued-focus-equity-king-says"><span style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">more than 20 percent</span></a></span><span style="color: #030a13; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">
of high schools don’t even have a school counselor at all, and 1.6 million
students attend a school with a sworn law enforcement officer but not a school
counselor. To alter the dynamics of the school-to-prison pipeline, those kinds
of odds need to change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #030a13; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">As JPI celebrates its<a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/About1/Help-us-celebrate-20-years.html"> 20th Anniversary</a>, <i>Education Under Arrest</i> remains a great tool for understanding the
effects of the school to prison pipeline. Work done by organizations like JPI and
the Department of Education shows the importance of alternatives to policing in
schools. By making positive investments in our students, we can create better
schools and safer communities. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Michelle Manno is an education writer at
2U. She works with schools such as Counseling@NYU – the </span><a href="http://counseling.steinhardt.nyu.edu/school-counseling/"><span style="color: #1155cc;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">online master's in school counseling</span></span></a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="color: #1155cc;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://counseling.steinhardt.nyu.edu/mental-health-counseling/">online master’s in mental health counseling</a> </span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">from NYU Steinhardt – to create resources that support K-12 students. Say hi on Twitter </span><a href="http://twitter.com/michellermanno"><span style="color: #1155cc;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">@michellermanno</span></span></a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-57367895083528871182017-06-16T13:13:00.003-04:002017-06-16T13:49:07.446-04:00This Father’s Day, Think About the Empty Seats<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>By Keith Wallington</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">JPI
State Based Strategist<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Remember your first great
achievement as a child? Was it your first
talent show or dance recital? First little league hit, basket made, or goal
scored? Think back to that moment. What made it so special? Who was there? There’s
no better affirmation of a child’s achievement than a parent’s approval. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Remember the excitement? Now
imagine that seat in the audience being empty, and the hurt and disappointment
that follows. That empty seat is a reality for too many kids across the country
due to the justice system’s devastating impact on families and communities. The
residual effect of the justice system’s disproportionate impacts on people and
communities of color are reflected in those empty seats. One in four black
children is at risk of having an incarcerated parent compared to one in thirty
white children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This Father’s Day, remember
all the fathers who have been separated from their children as a result of the
justice system. Many acknowledge that the United States’ system of slavery was
so terrible because of the beatings, mutilations and overall inhumane physical
treatment of slaves. However, the cruelest part of slavery for many slaves in
the U.S. didn’t lie in the inhumane physical treatment, but rather, the
separation of families. There is no greater pain or loss than a parent being
separated from their child, and the separation of families now routinely happens
under the cover of the justice system. The impact cannot be overstated. As a
coach for my son’s basketball and baseball teams I see and feel the reality of
those empty seats. I can tell within the first practice which of my players does
not have a father figure in their lives. There is a difference. You can see it.
You can feel it. And the kids certainly can, too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The void the justice system
creates by removing so many fathers in poor communities of color creates a
ripple effect that is felt throughout the entire community. While at the
Justice Policy Institute over the past seven years, I’ve worked on these
important issues in communities around DC, Maryland and Virginia. I also live
in Maryland, where blacks make up 29% of the overall population but about 72%
of the prison population. This disproportionate impact of the justice system on
black males has devastated entire communities and left voids that are filled by
gangs and others who try to take advantage of the absence of strong parental
figures. If we want to create a better future for our kids, we must begin by altering
the trajectory of many fatherless kids by investing in them, and healing their communities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">According to <a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/research/8764"><i>The Right Investment</i></a><i>, </i>a
report by the Justice Policy Institute, the Maryland community where the
justice system spends the most money incarcerating residents is Sandtown-Winchester in Baltimore,
where Freddie Gray was from. Taxpayers spend $17 million a year incarcerating
residents from this one community alone. But when you look at the indicators of
a healthy neighborhood, such as employment, education, housing, and treatment
services, you then see that Sandtown has the highest unemployment rate, highest
percentage of people without a high school diploma, the highest number of
abandoned houses, and highest rate of emergency narcotic calls to 911. Sandtown
also has one of the highest percentages in Baltimore of female-headed
households with children under 18 (at 79.2%), compared to the city average of
54.4%. So, while it cost $37k a year to incarcerate someone in Maryland, that
same $37k could provide drug treatment for 8 people, employment training for 7
people, and a GED course for 37 people in impacted communities. In communities
deeply impacted by the justice system, it becomes clear where investments are
needed and why so many children are without fathers due to incarceration, instead of receiving the support they need.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">As JPI celebrates its </span><a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/About1/Help-us-celebrate-20-years.html" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">20<sup>th</sup>
anniversary</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> year, I reflect on the work we’ve done towards reducing the
impact of the justice system, with most of my focus on communities around the
DMV. We know that there is a whole generation of missing fathers, an </span><a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&q=%23IncarcerationGeneration" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Incarceration
Generation</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">, and much more reform that needs to be done towards creating
safer, stronger communities. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rather than targeting
resources towards locking up so many black men, states and the federal government
could invest more wisely and preserve the family structure, rather than
continue to spend enormous amounts of money in the justice system that results
in the mass separation of family. We can and must do better! Instead of rendering so many black children
fatherless, it’s time to work on healing and strengthening communities through
smart, targeted investments that result in diplomas, not criminal records. </span></div>
Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-41907559896712315892017-05-14T10:23:00.000-04:002017-05-15T13:25:16.471-04:00Por el Amor de Nuestra Madre<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>By Marcia Rincon-Gallardo</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><i>JPI Guest Blogger</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This Mother’s Day, we must honor our mothers who have children
locked up somewhere in the system –whether it’s a daughter or a son, a niece or
a nephew, grandchildren, or someone you hold dear. It’s a day for us to reflect
on those impacted by the justice system, and say we may not know your pain, but
we feel your anguish, frustration, urgency, and ultimately hope that things
will get better. For the love of our mothers, <i>por el amor de nuestra madre,</i> we must transform how we approach
youth misbehavior and our youth justice system. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">On Mother’s Day and every day, this issue is near and dear to my
heart. In working with our youth as part of the National Alianza for Latino
Youth Justice, I am honored and humbled that many of them call me <i>tia,</i> or auntie. I cherish these children
and our relationships, because I know that understanding our children is an
important aspect of the work that remains in dismantling mass incarceration.
Like many of their moms, there was a time in my life where I was a single mom,
waking up each and every day praying that my son would not come in contact with
the juvenile justice system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Despite my prayers and best efforts, there was one incident that
sent my heart pumping. Throwing me into panic mode, my son received a three-day
suspension for bringing a plastic toy gun to school. While it was a childish
mistake, I knew that zero tolerance policies and this three-day suspension were
enough to put a 12-year-old, afro-mexicano-indigenous youth at the door of
detention. I intervened, showing up at the Vice Principal’s office to demand
they consider the harms of detention on a child. Because I knew the research
and understood the trauma that comes with the justice system, the administrator
agreed to “do me the favor” of releasing my son to me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As I spend time with previously impacted youth, I continuously
learn that many—if not all—have major, un-attended trauma that shaped their
young lives. Like my son, their justice system involvement started with a
school incident, running away from home, or committing an offense that would
change their life forever. These mistakes lead children towards the punitive
justice system, rather than giving them the restorative justice practices they
need or programs to address their trauma. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The <a href="http://www.swkey.org/alianza/">National Alianza for Latino Youth</a>, along with many other
organizations like the Justice Policy Institute, are part of a strong youth
justice transformation movement working to decrease the number youth in
detention. Over 300 facilities in 40 states across the country are implementing
practices that lower youth prison populations while improving public safety. We
know this work is especially important for youth of color, which is why I
partnered with JPI almost 15 years ago as part of the Building Blocks for Youth
initiative to write <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/reports/donde-esta-la-justicia-call-action-behalf-latino-and-latina-youth-us-justice-system">Donde Esta La Justicia: a call to action on behalf of Latino and Latina youth in the U.S.Justice System.</a> The first of its kind, the report highlighted the over
representation of latinx youth in the justice system, who also receive longer
sentences and harsher treatment within the system. Because of the work juvenile
justice organizations like JPI have done to raise awareness and create change,
we are seeing a transformation in youth justice and how we treat our kids.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Research shows that youth can be better served through community
based programs that address their unique needs. Mothers watched as generations
of children, mostly children of color, have been locked up and traumatized by a
system that promises to help them. This Mother’s Day, we honor mothers by
saying we hear you and we see you, and that we will work to give you a voice.
Only you know the pain of having a child in the justice system, and how
important it is to bring them back home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the spirit of Madres
de los desaparecidos, Casa de Las Madres, and the "Thirteen
Grandmothers", I honor and call upon our mothers to rise up in solidarity.
This Mother’s Day, I am proud to be a part of a movement working to dismantle the
cages built for our youth, and to build </span><i style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">la
cultura cura—</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">pathways to bring our children home to their mothers, aunties</span><i style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">,</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> and grandmothers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />
</span><span style="color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><i>Marcia Rincon-Gallardo is a member of the <a href="http://www.swkey.org/alianza/">National Alianza for Latino Youth Justice</a> and Founder of Noxtin, a juvenile justice reform
think-tank and strategic action organization based in Silicon Valley that works
with directly impacted communities and system professionals.</i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-91698184379816654642017-04-18T16:54:00.002-04:002017-04-19T09:43:15.572-04:00Shining a Light on the Crisis of Indigent Defense<div style="background: white; color: #353c40; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 15.75pt; margin: 0in 0in 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><b>By Marc Schindler</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; padding: 0in;"><i style="color: #353c40; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">JPI Executive Director</i></span></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; padding: 0in;">This week 60 Minutes featured a </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/inside-new-orleans-public-defenders-decision-to-refuse-felony-cases/"><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: #3d85c6; padding: 0in;">story</span></a></span><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> </span>detailing
the crisis in indigent defense in New Orleans, Louisiana. In a city where
public defenders have been under-resourced and overwhelmed for decades, the
situation has reached a breaking point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; padding: 0in;">Following years of budget cuts to the
office of the public defender, the city’s chief public defender, Derwyn Bunton,
has now gone on record stating that his office is not able to provide a
constitutionally adequate defense for too many of their clients. While Bunton
and his team of attorneys had been doing all they could to zealously advocate
on behalf of their clients for years – despite a shoestring budget – the load
simply became too much to bare while striving to ensure that everyone receives fair treatment by the justice system. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Having served 20 years ago as a public defender in Baltimore,
where I experienced crushing caseloads and saw firsthand how the system fails
to deliver justice, I know that we can and must do better. I had the privilege of working with
Derwyn Bunton on juvenile justice issues in Louisiana, and I know that his
decision to stop accepting cases was not done lightly, but with the same strong
and unyielding commitment to serving his clients that he’s shown his entire
career. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; padding: 0in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; padding: 0in;">As I consider the dire situation in New
Orleans, and reflect on JPI celebrating our 20<sup>th</sup> anniversary this
year, I am reminded of our work on this critical issue and our efforts to shine
a light on the significant challenges facing public defenders around the
country. JPI’s 2011 report, </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/research/2756?utm_source=%2fsystemoverload&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=redirect"><i>System Overload: The Cost of Under-Resourcing Public Defense</i></a></span><span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; padding: 0in;">, concluded that overloaded public
defense systems result in more prison time for people across the country, and
less justice. </span></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; padding: 0in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; padding: 0in;">According to <i>System Overload</i>, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">73 percent of county-based public defender offices lacked the
requisite number of attorneys to meet caseload standards; 23 percent of these
offices had less than half of the necessary attorneys to meet caseload
standards. JPI’s report found that public defense systems across the country
are overburdened, and showed how the busting-at-the-seams systems affect state
and county budgets, the lives of those behind bars, the impact on their
families, and the challenges of re-entering communities after serving time. We
further looked at why dedicated public defenders – like Derwyn Bunton and his
staff in New Orleans -- do not have enough time to conduct thorough
investigations, or meet with and provide quality representation for their
clients. Not surprisingly, in most of these systems the great majority of
clients are low-income and people of color – contributing to very troubling
racial disparities in the criminal justice system.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">National standards recommend that public defenders handle no more
than 150 felony, 400 misdemeanor, 200 juvenile, 200 mental health, or 25
appeals per year. Only 12 percent of county public defender offices with more
than 5,000 cases per year had enough lawyers to meet caseload standards. Nearly
60 percent of county-based public defender offices do not have caseload limits
or the authority to refuse cases due to excessive caseloads. This lack of
authority is particularly evident in larger offices with higher caseloads.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">With an increasing overload of cases, lack of quality defense and
a shortage of resources, JPI made the case that justice is not being served and
the wellbeing of millions of people is at stake. We called for reform to the
public defense system in </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">System Overload</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">,
and we will continue to challenge policymakers to make investments to ensure a
fairer, more effective justice system for all. If we want to have a justice
system that meets constitutional muster, we must ensure that the 6</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
Amendment right to counsel isn’t just words on paper, but becomes a reality in courtrooms
across our country. Until that happens, we can’t honestly say that justice is
being served in many cities and towns across America.</span></div>
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Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-74033002402541963552017-03-21T12:23:00.000-04:002017-04-18T16:54:25.616-04:00How “Raising the Age” Is Transforming Youth Justice<div style="background: white; color: #353c40; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 15.75pt; margin: 0in 0in 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><b>By Marcy Mistrett and Marc Schindler</b></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; color: #353c40; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 15.75pt; margin: 0in 0in 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><i>Campaign for Youth Justice CEO and JPI Executive Director</i></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; color: #353c40; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 15.75pt; margin: 0in 0in 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">This piece originally appeared on <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/how-raising-age-transforming-youth-justice?utm_content=bufferc1f1e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer" target="_blank">Open Society Foundations' blog</a>. </span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; color: #353c40; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 15.75pt; margin: 0in 0in 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<img alt="Two teen boys in orange uniforms" class="featured_bio_full_675" height="453" src="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/styles/featured_bio_full_675/public/photos/20170317-widmer-louisiana-jail-teens-uno-3000_0.jpg?itok=xv3LAQSk" style="background-color: black; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom;" title="Two 17-year-old inmates play the card game UNO at the Lafayette Parish jail in Lafayette, Louisiana, in April 19, 2016. Photo credit: © William Widmer/Redux" typeof="foaf:Image" width="680" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Over the past decade,
advocates have successfully challenged the boundaries of how states define
childhood in the context of criminal law. According to the Campaign for Youth
Justice, which supports these reforms, the number of states that automatically
prosecute 16- or 17-year-olds in the adult criminal justice system has been cut
in half, from 14 to just 7.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There are now about half as
many youths automatically being handled in the adult system. This is good news for
states around the country. Juvenile crime has continued to fall, costs have
been kept in check, and thousands of youth have been spared the dangers that
come from being placed in adult jails and prisons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Today, just seven states still
automatically handle 16- or 17-year-olds (or both) in the adult criminal
justice system, but these states are all currently considering changes as well.
In some of the states contemplating raising the age, there are concerns that it
will cost too much and juvenile courts will be overwhelmed. Similar concerns
were initially expressed in those places that raised the age over the past
decade.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A new report by the Justice
Policy Institute, Raising the Age: Shifting to a More Effective Juvenile
Justice System, addresses these concerns by showing that states which have
moved teenagers out of the adult justice system and into the youth justice
system have done so in a cost effective and safe way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The report found that in
states like Connecticut, Illinois, and Massachusetts—which had strategies in
place to reduce their reliance on expensive youth facilities even before they
raised the age—juvenile-corrections costs were kept in check as they began to
serve older teenagers. Since it can cost more than $100,000 a year to
incarcerate a teenager, shifting to practices that keep more youth at home has
allowed states to reallocate resources in more cost-effective ways, reserving
the most expensive out-of-home options for the small number of youth who are a
serious risk to public safety.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In Illinois, initial concerns
that new courtrooms and attorneys would be needed to handle thousands of youth
ultimately evaporated, as the state was able to manage the change with existing
resources while also closing three costly youth facilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There, as in other states that
adopted better youth justice policies</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> and raised the age, juvenile crime
declined more than the national average. Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy
observed that his state saw lower adult crime and imprisonment rates after
raising the age to 18, saving tens of millions of dollars. Based on these
results, Governor Malloy is now calling on the Connecticut legislature to raise
the age of juvenile jurisdiction to 21.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As with almost every facet of
America’s justice system, it is clear that this is a racial justice issue as
well. For example, in New York, North Carolina, and Michigan, each of which is
contemplating raising the age, young people of color are grossly
overrepresented in the justice system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In New York State, eight out
of ten people sentenced to prison are people of color, and nine out of ten
young people sentenced to prison from New York City are young people of color.
In North Carolina, black youth account for 62 percent of the young people
prosecuted in the adult criminal system and are nine times more likely than
white youth to receive an adult prison sentence. In Michigan in 2012, 59
percent of youth who were prosecuted in adult court were black, even though
they only made up 18 percent of the youth population statewide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Knowing that youth of color
are disproportionately impacted should provide even more of a sense of urgency,
and we have an obligation to implement policies that will treat all youth
fairly while at the same time making the most effective use of taxpayer
dollars, especially given that the vast majority—80–95 percent, depending on
the state—of 16- and 17-year-olds arrested in these states are picked up for
nonviolent offenses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We should be doing everything
we can to ensure that when a young person has a brush with the law, we increase
the likelihood that they can get on the right track, making sure that they are
safe and receiving the types of supports and opportunities that anyone would
want for their own child. Treating children as children, in a developmentally
appropriate juvenile justice system—not in an adult system that puts youth at
great risk of harm and leads to more crime—is the right policy for all
communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-24305468806284998442016-09-01T13:26:00.001-04:002017-04-18T16:39:12.728-04:00America Can’t Reduce Incarceration Without Addressing Violent Crime<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 9.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><b>Marc Schindler</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><i>JPI Executive Director</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">This piece originally appeared on <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/america-can-t-reduce-incarceration-without-addressing-violent-crime" target="_blank">Open Society Foundations' blog. </a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Recently, I
had the privilege of spending time with three men who had served a total of over
100 years in prison after having been convicted of violent crimes. The three
included Roach Brown, whose life sentence for a murder committed during a
robbery was commuted after he served over 30 years; Stanley Mitchell, who was
released in 2013 after serving 34 years of a life sentence for being the
getaway driver in a fatal robbery; and Walter Lomax, who was exonerated and
released in 2006 after serving nearly 40 years of a life sentence for a murder
he didn’t commit. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In addition
to serving extremely long sentences following convictions for violent crimes,
what these three men have in common is that they are all doing well and all
contribute to their communities.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As we
discussed their experiences during a radio show hosted by Roach Brown, I was
again struck by the folly of America’s approach to addressing violent crime. As
the National Academy of Sciences notes in its<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.nap.edu/read/18613/chapter/15#339"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #990000; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">seminal
work</span></a> on the causes of prison population growth, “The change in
penal policy over the past four decades may have had a wide range of unwanted
social costs, and the magnitude of crime reduction benefits is highly
uncertain.”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As a number
of states across the country have shown, including New York, New Jersey and
California, we can have fewer people in prison <em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">and</span></em> lower crime rates.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Our
discussion took place during a time when there is more support than ever on
both sides of the political aisle for criminal justice reform. But the
national conversation and policy reforms have focused almost exclusively on
reducing the incarceration of people convicted of nonviolent offenses. Yet
almost half of the people in prison have been convicted of a violent crime.
That means there is no way the U.S. will meaningfully reduce its incarceration
rate without changing how the justice system treats so-called violent crimes.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thankfully,
there are signs policymakers may be willing to try a different approach. In the
juvenile justice system, along with declines in juvenile crime, there has been
a concerted effort to meet the needs of youth in the community through
effective and less costly alternatives to incarceration, resulting in more than
a 50 percent drop in the number of youth confined in juvenile facilities over
the past decade. We have also seen Supreme Court rulings prohibiting mandatory
life-without-parole sentences for those who commit a crime before their 18th
birthday. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">From
California to New York, fewer parole decisions simply consider “the nature of
the crime,” instead taking into account how likely someone is to reoffend if
released. There has also been some chipping away at mandatory minimum sentences
for violent offenses. And when faced with spikes in violent crime, some city
leaders are rejecting approaches that simply rely on enhanced penalties and are
investing more in the communities hit hardest.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">These modest
steps are encouraging, though they need to be tempered with reality. The latest
surveys show only a one percent reduction in the national prison population,
along with a slight increase in jailed populations. The United States still has
the highest incarceration rate and the largest prison population in the world.
And many of the proposals to improve how we respond to violent crime failed to
pass during congressional or state legislative sessions in 2016. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The data is
clear: America will not significantly reduce incarceration unless the justice
system changes its approach to violence. We need to ask who defines a behavior
as violent, how the justice system treats these behaviors, and whether the
approach to violent crime makes us safer.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In our new
report, <em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/research/10708" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px;"><span style="color: #990000;">Defining Violence: Reducing Incarceration by Rethinking
America’s Approach to Violence</span></a></span></em>, the Justice Policy
Institute looks more closely at these issues.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It’s
important to note that behavior may be defined as a violent crime in one place
and as a nonviolent crime somewhere else, and that context matters in the way
violent and nonviolent crimes are treated by the justice system. For example,
behavior that wouldn’t otherwise be defined as a violent crime can be
classified as violent and mean a much longer term of imprisonment when a gun is
involved. So while it is true that gun violence is a serious problem in many
communities, we also know that there has been almost zero political will to
actually remove guns from our streets.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Finally, the
report examines the significant disconnect between current policies and the
evidence of what actually makes us safer. For instance, while research shows
that people convicted of some of the most serious offenses—such as homicide or
sex offenses—can have the lowest recidivism rates, this is often not taken into
consideration when considering sentence lengths.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If America
is going to truly come to grips with our addiction to incarceration, we need to
have a serious and informed conversation about how we respond to people charged
with and convicted of violent crimes. Otherwise, all of the energy and effort
to reduce incarceration will result only in marginal changes, which
unfortunately won’t move us much closer to a fair and effective justice
system. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-86044166398508202782016-08-09T16:53:00.004-04:002016-09-26T16:29:24.672-04:00How We Can Stop Solitary For Kids<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.65pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">By Ned Loughran</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Executive Director of The Council
of Juvenile Correctional Administrators.</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Guest Blogger</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Is it possible to end the use of isolation for punishment and
administrative convenience in youth detention and correctional facilities in
the next three years? The Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators
(CJCA) answers emphatically, yes and is committed to doing just that!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Ever since Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) administrator Robert Listenbee met
with the CJCA Board of Directors in his first session with us in August 2013
and delivered the challenge “if not isolation, then what”, we have responded to
his urging.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">We chose “Reducing the Use of
Isolation” as the theme of our Second Leadership Institute in 2014, which
featured a keynote address by Administrator Listenbee, panel discussions,
breakout groups and a concluding roundtable on the topic. In 2015, CJCA created
a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://cjca.net/index.php/resources/cjca-publications/107-toolkit"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Toolkit for Reducing the
Use of Isolation</span></a><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">, a publication intended to
guide youth correctional administrators and their directors of institutions and
secure facilities in changing cultures that rely on isolation as a behavior
management tool.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">CJCA also recently joined the <a href="http://www.cclp.org/"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Children’s Center for Law and Policy </span></a>(CCLP), the <a href="http://cjjr.georgetown.edu/"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Center for Juvenile Justice Reform </span></a>at Georgetown
University (CJJR) and <a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/index.html"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Justice Policy</span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;"> </span><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Institute</span></a> (JPI)
to launch a campaign to end the solitary confinement of youth. Launched this
spring, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=173CfXLeMQs&feature=youtu.b"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Stop Solitary Confinement
for Youth (SSK) Campaign </span></a>has already garnered the support of
more than thirty national organizations such as the American Correctional
Association, American Psychological Association and the <a href="http://cjca.net/pbstandards.org"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Performance-based Standards Learning Institute </span></a>(PbS LI).
The campaign will provide support to state and local agencies working to end
the use of isolation. The Crime Report, an online criminal justice resource
from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, recently published and OP-ED piece I
wrote on ending solitary for youth and the work of the campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">And just a little over a month ago,
OJJDP hosted a national convening: “Eliminating the Use of Solitary Confinement
in Juvenile Justice Facilities: A Multi-systemic Approach” for more than 60
juvenile justice professionals from across the country. Advocates, juvenile
justice administrators, and high level officials from the White House and the
Department of Justice came together to review data around solitary confinement
and discuss best practices. You can read more about the OJJDP convening<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://jjie.org/ojjdp-plans-to-help-states-eliminate-use-of-solitary-confinement-for-juveniles/234159/"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">here</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">And finally,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/barack-obama-why-we-must-rethink-solitary-confinement/2016/01/25/29a361f2-c384-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">President Obama himself
has weighed in on this issue, authoring an Opinion piece </span></a>in the
Washington Post urging the criminal and juvenile justice systems to rethink the
use of solitary confinement, particularly for young offenders and those with
mental health problems. A day later, he followed up and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-bans-solitary-confinement-for-juveniles-in-federal-prisons/2016/01/25/056e14b2-c3a2-11e5-9693-933a4d31bcc8_story.html"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">banned the use of
solitary confinement </span></a>for juveniles in federal prisons. Although
his ban does not affect youth in locally run pre-trial detention centers or
long-term youth correctional facilities, he appealed to those system’s leaders
to end the use of solitary confinement. Between the President’s Executive
Action, the leadership of OJJDP, and the Stop Solitary for Kids campaign, we
are excited to see so many forces coming together to end this harmful and
counterproductive practice. CJCA, more than any other organization in the
country, has the ability and capacity to end solitary/isolation for youths in
state youth correctional systems!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-47046871779140411762016-07-27T14:25:00.000-04:002016-09-26T16:30:24.435-04:00What I really want for Father’s Day: Stop Solitary for Kids<div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 730px; padding: 0px; width: 630px;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #1a1a1a; line-height: 150%;">By Marc Schindler</span></b><span style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #1a1a1a; line-height: 150%;">Executive Director of JPI</span></i><span style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;">Originally Posted on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-schindler-/post_12331_b_10509598.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #38761d;">Huffington
Post's Blog</span></a></span></i><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">As Father’s Day approached, and I watched my kids excitedly make
plans to celebrate, I couldn’t help but reflect on my juvenile justice reform
work. As a former youth corrections administrator, I noticed their excitement
is so different than the isolation we know is too often experienced by kids in
facilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Based on my experience working with incarcerated youth, I know
that many families do not get to enjoy Father’s Day. Across the country, too
many families are torn apart by our criminal and juvenile justice systems, with
loved ones locked away in facilities, often far away from their families. In
particular, I think about kids in solitary confinement. Stuck in isolation, all
alone in a cell, I know kids in solitary confinement are having a very
different Father’s Day than my own children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Solitary confinement is the involuntary placement of youth alone
in a room or cell, for any reason other than a temporary response to behavior.
Solitary is often used when there are insufficient staff or resources in
facilities, particularly critical mental health services and appropriate
training for all staff. This means that solitary confinement often prevents
kids from getting the treatment and services they need. It can have
long-lasting and devastating effects on youth, including trauma, psychosis,
depression, anxiety, and increased risk of suicide and self-harm. In fact, over
half of all suicides in juvenile facilities occur in solitary confinement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">That’s why my organization, the Justice Policy Institute, is
working on a national campaign to end the use of solitary confinement for
youth. Along with the Center for Children’s Law and Policy, the Center for
Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University, and the Council of Juvenile
Correctional Administrators, we launched<em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"entry_text","lnid":"citation","mpid":1}}" href="http://www.stopsolitaryforkids.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit;" target="_hplink"><span style="color: #2e7061;">Stop Solitary for Kids</span></a></em>, with a
focus on ending solitary confinement of youth at the local, state and national
level. Through this campaign, research experts, advocates, correctional
administrators, parents of incarcerated youth, medical professionals, and
elected officials have all come together in an effort to end solitary
confinement of youth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">At the Stop Solitary for Kids campaign launch on April 19th, US
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) spoke about the need to end solitary confinement, in
order to do better for our kids. “We are engaging in a practice that human
rights activists, and other countries, consider torture,” said Booker. He
highlighted the growing consensus among activists, experts, and corrections
administrators that solitary confinement is a harmful practice. The Senator
also showed why this damaging practice is so harmful and counterintuitive in a
juvenile justice system intended to rehabilitate youth, stating, “we’re being
robbed of their beauty and their glory because we are punishing them and
torturing them, harming them and traumatizing them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Our campaign builds off the momentum of the action of President
Obama, who made history by calling for a ban on solitary confinement for youth
in federal facilities. Obama wrote an <em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"entry_text","lnid":"citation","mpid":2}}" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/barack-obama-why-we-must-rethink-solitary-confinement/2016/01/25/29a361f2-c384-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html" style="box-sizing: inherit;" target="_hplink"><span style="color: #2e7061;">op-ed in the Washington Post</span></a></em> that
rightly called solitary confinement “an affront to our common humanity.” Though
few youth are in federal custody, Obama’s Executive Action is influential in
raising the bar across our country. The President is using the bully pulpit to
spread the message that solitary confinement of youth is not only
counterproductive, but inhumane, providing strong leadership to encourage the
end of this practice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Even in my own community, here in Washington, D.C., great
strides are being made towards ending the solitary confinement of youth. DC
Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie introduced the Comprehensive Youth Justice Act of
2016, proposing sweeping reforms to juvenile justice in the District. One of
these reforms includes limiting the use of solitary confinement for all youth
under the age of 18, whether held in a juvenile or adult facility, and
requiring stringent reporting when it is used. These are the types of
approaches we need in working with our young people. At the end of the day, it
will make our kids healthier and our communities safer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Altogether, these efforts show a growing consensus in America
that we must stop solitary for kids. From national elected officials such as
President Obama and Senator Cory Booker, to local decision makers like DC
Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, reforms are being advanced to end solitary
confinement. The campaign also includes important supporters such as
corrections administrators from Ohio, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Indiana who
are doing this in their own facilities and setting an example for facilities nationwide.
Dozens of organizations across America, from the ACLU to the American
Correctional Association, have also joined in support of the campaign. With
such a wide variety of groups coming together, we know that true reform is
possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This movement gives me hope that we can truly Stop Solitary for
Kids. As a dad, I’m grateful for a day to celebrate my relationship with my
kids, and I’m even more grateful that there will soon be a day where no kids
will have to endure the harms of solitary confinement.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-11206020145769293522016-03-28T15:53:00.001-04:002016-09-26T16:30:14.101-04:00What Mass Incarceration Means For Families<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Wendy Pacheco</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">JPI Intern</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since I could remember, my life has been shaped by courts, cops, and jails. My grandmother and I used to walk hand in hand through the East Los Angeles Civic Center toward the local courthouse to watch a judge decide the fate of my mother. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I remember blaming her, reprimanding her for her choice in clothing, her decisions to walk through the alleys at night, and for her overall state of well-being. My feelings shifted my 2nd year of college, when a professor offered a course to formerly incarcerated students where we spent hours on end discussing our own experiences and deconstructing the historical relationship between people of color and the criminal justice system. I realized that my mother’s experiences speak largely to the experiences of women across the United States who are suffering from drug addiction, homelessness, domestic violence, or other forms of abuse. I realized that due to mass incarceration, my mother and I were unknowingly a part of a community of millions of women who experienced what my mother and I had.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My mother’s relapse lasted about 8 years before she was mandated by a judge to participate in a rehabilitation program or serve a minimum of 1 year in a federal prison. As a witness to my mother’s journey with reentry I recall the difficulties she faced in trying to rebuild her life. Finding stable housing was especially difficult, because the waiting list for public housing and the formal processes for renting an apartment hindered my mother from taking the necessary steps to reintegrate into society. Many leasing agencies and landlords require potential tenants to provide proof of income that reflects twice the amount of rent. But for someone like my mother, whose income primarily consisted of government assistance that did not amount to anything near twice the amount of rent for an apartment in Los Angeles, her options were limited. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found my everyday realities continue to be enmeshed with the criminal justice system after my father's arrest in 2011. At the time, he was the head of household, and so his arrest resulted in a shift of financial responsibilities and ultimately bore severe financial hardships on my family. As a senior in high school my only option, as I saw it, was to completely immerse myself in the possibility of higher education as a means to move beyond my circumstances. As a 1st year student at UC Berkeley my priorities were driven by the necessity to care for my family: bearing the financial responsibility of paying for phone calls to maintain steady communication, sending my father money for his monthly commissary visits, and carrying out the emotional labor for my family in dealing with the incarceration of a parent. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As my mother celebrates her third year of recovery, my father completes five years of being incarcerated; I still carry the psychological and emotional trauma from those experiences. The stigma, isolation, and trauma associated with incarceration have direct impacts across families and communities that last well beyond release. Since 2011, as many as 100,000 mothers who are were primary caregivers have been incarcerated in prison alone; additionally, when it is not the woman who is incarcerated, women tend to be the ones who bear the financial and emotional responsibility after a loved one has been locked away. It is not enough to address mass incarceration as a racial issue, an economic issue, or a queer issue, we must also view mass incarceration as a reproductive rights issue, and as an overall women’s issue, that bears collateral consequences on families including increased poverty, destabilized neighborhoods, and generations of trauma.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> Wendy Pacheco is a graduating senior at the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Ethnic Studies.</i> </span><br />
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<br />Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-52674640283903012122016-02-22T15:02:00.002-05:002016-09-26T16:30:39.142-04:00Prison Labor: Trauma as a “marketable job skill”<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Jacqueline Conn</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guest Blogger</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fields on the William P. Hobby unit in Marlin, TX had watermelons, green onions, okra, sweet potatoes—and I’m sure other crops that I don’t remember because they aren’t tied to a trauma. It was plantation fields with a disproportionate amount of Blacks and Latinos working under mostly white guards on horses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was on the “aggravated hoe squad” for women with violent charges, many of whom I‘d learn were lifetime victims of abuse themselves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After we were pat down and out the gates, the Lieutenant—an older White man on horseback—gave a brief orientation, “. . . I only break fights if someone ain't fightin back an’s gettin a head kicked in . . . nothin worse than a wimp.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With that we started running in a tight line of pairs, with an aggie (or hoe, hence “hoe squad”) balanced on the palms of our hands. Our bosses herded us, sitting over us horseback with shotguns.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I should pause for a definition of terms. Prison labor, job training, and humanizing the carceral state are used interchangeably to talk about modern day slavery. Texas Correctional Industries (TCI) redefined its slavery program as one that provides “participants with marketable job skills to help reduce recidivism through . . . <a href="http://www.tci.tdcj.texas.gov/info/about/default.aspx">job skills training</a>.” These redefinitions help us forget the 13th amendment banned slavery, with the exception of prisoners.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eventually I saw the parallels to slavery: neither are a choice, and both motivate workers with coercion and fear. Hoe squad bosses put the fastest at the front and punished anyone in back who couldn’t keep up. Bosses reprimanded us and rewarded fast workers for bullying “lazy” ones. Other women became our enemies and bosses were our merciful masters. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were porta-potties and a water tank; we got to use both if we were lucky. Some days the heat climbed up to 114 degrees. I got sick the first winter, but there are no sick days and “only sorry hoes complain.” The boss told me to vomit as I worked, as long as I didn’t stop moving. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn’t have friends on the field at first. They called me weak, lazy, or dirty because I looked different than them, and no one wanted to work by me. We had no sympathy for each other, or ourselves. Each morning we picked a partner. The wrong partner meant a case or a beating, and so I was always the last person picked. One morning, too beat down for pretense, I mumbled to myself: “why doesn’t anyone want to be my partner, what’s wrong with me?” One woman heard me, and made the choice to be my friend. “I remember what it was like when I first started,” she said. This is the only disruptive, radically compassionate moment I remember. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s impossible for me to fully describe a world that for some may only exist in the 1800’s. But I can say this: none of the “job skills” I learned from prison slave labor—like how to hold my pee, or work through dehydration, or avoid physical violence with jokes—have proved marketable in any of my job searches. I still don’t know how to talk about my experience as a prison laborer free from the trauma and shame that comes with having once been an object of the state. Maybe TCI could also offer a resume template on their website, or advice for the growing number of men and women returning home with a lack of marketable job skills, but an abundance of trauma and shame.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jacqueline Conn is a writer and activist living in Austin, Texas.</span></i>Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-87814195001328422022015-12-21T11:28:00.001-05:002016-09-26T16:31:10.033-04:00Justice Reform in 2015 and Beyond<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #353c40; line-height: 18.48px;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><b>By Marc Schindler</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><b><i>Executive Director of JPI</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><i>Originally Posted on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-schindler-/justice-reform-in-2015-an_b_8849562.html" target="_blank">Huffington Post's Crime Blog</a></i></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirvBJKHdlRLp9rTFzRaC1_Ae3Pbkr83dT82Obn3BNQ3wM9yfiAglV-0xbeVaI5E5Cc7ckmhFjneor2jBWeCjTLtffr1ijRp88YmZ2NLpiuAnqy2Bm0Pc7Px8ml1Vpxd6IZgiw6OkwkHB8l/s1600/cell+hands_blog+post.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirvBJKHdlRLp9rTFzRaC1_Ae3Pbkr83dT82Obn3BNQ3wM9yfiAglV-0xbeVaI5E5Cc7ckmhFjneor2jBWeCjTLtffr1ijRp88YmZ2NLpiuAnqy2Bm0Pc7Px8ml1Vpxd6IZgiw6OkwkHB8l/s320/cell+hands_blog+post.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Scout J. Photography via Getty Images</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Criminal justice reform is enjoying a moment of mainstream support: Mass incarceration is now widely recognized as wasteful, in terms of dollars and lives, and the language of reform has been echoed by politicians, pundits and the media throughout 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Among the important milestones of 2015, President Obama made history as the first sitting president to prioritize comprehensive criminal justice reforms. During a speech to the NAACP, the President outlined a sweeping criminal justice reform agenda to roll back mandatory minimum sentences for people convicted of drug offenses, review the use of solitary confinement, and invest in alternatives to incarceration. The President instructed Federal agencies to stop asking potential employees about criminal histories at the beginning of the selection process and became the first sitting chief executive to visit a federal prison. And with his most recent executive action, Obama also has commuted the sentences of more people than the last five presidents combined. Finally, changes to federal sentencing guidelines by the U.S. Sentencing Commission resulted in the historic release of more than six thousand people from federal prisons, and other changes to the guidelines will lead to over 10,000 prisoners having slightly shorter sentences in years to come.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The President and the Sentencing Commission are not the only catalysts for change. In California, the state began implementing voter initiated Prop 47, which changed low level offenses from felonies to misdemeanors for thousands of people, and created pathways for people with a conviction to expunge their records. In Connecticut, Governor Malloy proposed developmentally appropriate treatment of young adults in the justice system by raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction in his state to age 21, and providing special confidentiality protections for adults under 25. And in states across the South, there have been bipartisan efforts to reduce incarceration and reinvest the savings towards efforts to keep people out of prison and reduce crime. Congress is also poised to pass bi-partisan criminal justice reform legislation, hopefully in early 2016.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For a country that far and away leads the world in incarceration, these are important signs of progress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, we cannot pop the champagne corks just yet. The latest prisoner statistics showed that there has only been a one percent reduction in the state and federal prison population -- nothing near the dramatic changes we need to see to bring real relief to the communities most impacted by incarceration. And we need to ensure that these efforts to include reducing incarceration for those imprisoned for violent crimes, not just non-violent drug offenders.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How can we ensure that recent and important efforts are the prequel to lasting and comprehensive reforms that dramatically reduce the use of incarceration?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, policymakers could follow the President's lead: Like Obama, political leaders need to witness firsthand the failures of these institutions, and commit to substantial reform.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second, we need transparency and oversight of the corrections system, and to engage those most impacted by the system in the movement to reduce prison populations. As the Marshall Project editor-in-chief Bill Keller laid out in a recent essay, there needs to be more media access to prisons and jails, to provide for accountability in our corrections systems, sustainability for the reform taking place, and as a way to engage the most impacted communities in reform. Keller notes that, "unless the men and women and children we incarcerate are visible, the clamor for reform is likely to be unsustainable -- a moment, but not a movement."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shining a spotlight on what is happening in prisons, and building a movement of the most impacted communities to close prisons will make more money available to be reinvested in the kinds of services that promote safe and healthy communities. We should take the billions we are currently spending on prisons and jails, and make bigger investments in a public infrastructure that can house, employ, and meet people's treatment needs outside the criminal justice system.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, while the communities most impacted by incarceration will build this movement, this work needs to be owned by everyone. The reach of the justice system is far and wide, and there are countless individuals whose direct experiences and leadership should shape the direction of reform.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mass incarceration has reshaped and torn at the very fabric of our nation. To turn the tide, we all need to be a part of a broad and deep movement for reform. Together, we can make sure the next chapter is one built on promise rather than failure.</span></div>
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Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-2851116311990840702015-11-23T10:37:00.001-05:002015-11-23T10:41:01.033-05:00The Reflections of a Hypocrite<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">By Leo Kim</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That was
the thought bouncing around my head as I fumbled around a row of black trash
bags lining the street, dealing with the aftermath of a sudden eviction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few
hours earlier, I had been at my desk at Justice Policy Institute’s office
working when I got a call. “You need to get here right away,” a panicked
neighbor told me. “The guy you’re subletting from is being evicted and the
marshals are taking out <i>everything</i>.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First, I
thought it was a joke. There’s no way, I thought. It was too ironic. After all,
I had only recently finished helping with research for JPI on the intersection
of homelessness and the criminal justice system in Maryland. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thirty
minutes later, when I got to the apartment and saw my entire life in D.C.
tossed indiscriminately into trash bags on the side of the street, I knew it
was no joke. I had received no word of the eviction. No forewarning. But there
it was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was
quite a scene and on a busy Georgetown afternoon; I stuck out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most
passersby tried to avoid eye contact. Some talked amongst themselves about what
could have happened. A select few actually came up and asked me themselves,
leaving with words that, while comforting, amounted to little more than “I’m
sorry, I wish I could help.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was
at that point that a man of about 50 approached me. Despite looking worn and
tired, he told me that he wanted to help. He told me that something similar had
happened to him, and he understood. If I needed anything, I should come get
him— he’d be across the street.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This
man, homeless, was the only stranger to offer me help that day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All this
started to get me thinking. What would I have done had I been one of the people
walking by? After all, I should have known how swift and terrible something
like this could be. I had spent the better part of a summer <i>specifically</i> researching it, and I knew
that for most people, the same event would have been far worse than I could
ever hope to comprehend. I knew from my research that homelessness could have
devastating impacts and often lead to involvement in the justice system. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I, who
could rattle off dozens of facts about the worst parts of homelessness,
wouldn’t have offered substantial help. And while I’m sure there are better
souls out there, I think most people would do the same— they <i>did </i>do the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So where
does this leave me?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The
thing is, I’m a little bit of a dork. But not just any kind of dork, I’m a
philosophy dork. So naturally, that’s where my mind went.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There’s
a theory in philosophy that essentially says that your beliefs are intimately
linked to your actions. If<span class="MsoCommentReference"> </span> you believe something, you’ll act in
accordance with that belief. If you act in a way seemingly contradictory, we
can say that you never believed that thing in the first place. After all, it
makes sense to say a person who acts bigoted doesn’t believe in equality, even
if they explicitly say they do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Plus, if
beliefs don’t cause action, then why would we bother teaching correct
information? What’s the purpose of teaching people about global warming if we
don’t think it’ll lead to positive change, to something <i>happening</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So how
would someone who believed in the inequity surrounding homelessness have acted
in that situation? The obvious answer seems to be that they would have helped.
But, contrary to my belief that people who are homeless need more than a few
meaningless words, that’s exactly what I would’ve done, like so many did that
day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What
conclusion did I have? I was a hypocrite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I
thought I had done all the right things to help myself become more
understanding of the world around me— to become more understanding of the
privilege I have that so many lack, of the obligation we all have towards one
another. I had researched, written, and learned about the relevant issues. I
had taken classes on ethics and waxed philosophical. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But at
the end of the day, this intellectual education wasn’t enough to ensure that my
beliefs translated into actions consistent with those beliefs. I didn’t have
the right beliefs in the sense that we want them, beliefs in the sense that
they matter in a tangible way. There was still a vast chasm separating my
intellectual knowledge, and this visceral, acting knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s
probably safe to assume that many reading this, like me, are interested in
reform and have a genuine desire to—pardon the hackneyed expression— “be the
change that they wish to see in the world.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yet,
this isn’t something that can be achieved in a purely academic setting, as so
many of my university peers may think. Rather, there needs to be something
connecting you to the people the problem affects; it needs to be human, not
solely intellectual. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fighting
this abstraction through personal involvement is important. With it, the divide
between the two kinds of knowledge can start to inch closer and closer
together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I
came to my internship at JPI, I was told that my primary job was to “learn.” By
the end of my internship, I realized that the most valuable kind of learning I
did was unlike the academic kind I had become so accustomed to in the past 15
years of my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Getting
a chance to meet those that the problem affected <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>and
becoming more personally conscientious of the issues at hand gave me something
I could have never taken away from a report or a classroom. And this is
precisely what we need if we are to become more like the person we all <i>want</i> to be, rather than the ones we so
often are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Leo Kim is a student at Yale where he studies
philosophy and writes for the Opinion Section of the Yale Daily News. He is
also a former JPI Research Intern.</span></i></div>
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Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-38832993103661635322015-10-20T11:50:00.000-04:002015-10-20T12:07:29.133-04:00Help Young Adults Succeed: Create Alternatives to the Justice System <div class="Normal1">
<b><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></b>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/48rH0o3W86c/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/48rH0o3W86c?feature=player_embedded" style="clear: right; float: right;" width="320"></iframe><b><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">By Marcus Bullock</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Guest Blogger<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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On October 2<sup>nd</sup>, the Washington Post published <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/time-to-raise-the-juvenile-age-limit/2015/10/02/948e317c-6862-11e5-9ef3-fde182507eac_story.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">“Why 21 year-old offenders should be tried in family court”.</span></a><span id="goog_546551829" style="color: blue;"></span><span id="goog_546551830" style="color: blue;"></span><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></span> As I read the
op-ed, I was reminded of the young guys that I knew while I was locked up as a
15-year-old kid. </div>
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The young men around me may have been older than I was, but these
guys were no different from me. For <a href="http://www.campaignforyouthjustice.org/news/blog/item/yjam-the-story-of-marcus-bullock-juvenile-justice-advocate" target="_blank"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Youth Justice Awareness Month</span></a> at the Campaign for
Youth Justice, I created this video about why experiencing prison while still developing is extremely harmful for young adults. As I learn
about the brain science and behavior research that shows what seemed obvious to
me at the time, I now know that there’s not that much difference,
developmentally, between an older teenager and a
young adult.Now that we know this, I hope we can create approaches and
programs that are based on what science tells us<span style="color: windowtext;">.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Instead of treating young adults the same as if they are much
older and putting them in the criminal justice system, we should create systems
for diversion, community-based services, and maybe even special facilities to address
their unique needs. I now run my own home remodeling business, and am the
founder of the <a href="https://www.flikshop.com/#overview"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Flikshop</span></a> mobile
app, which generates postcards from digital downloads to help keep people in
prison more connected to their loved ones. If we provide supports that
recognize the needs of young adults, even if they are in the adult criminal
justice system, we can see lots more people succeed like me. Doing this would
be the ideal game plan, and would ensure that our communities are safer in the
long run. </div>
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<i>Marcus Bullock is the
CEO and Founder of the mobile app Flikshop. He is also a Board Member at the
Justice Policy Institute. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-11660667706209039232015-07-16T18:13:00.002-04:002015-07-17T11:41:22.699-04:00A national agenda for criminal justice reform: Not just second chances, but a rational first response<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"><b>By Marc Schindler</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"><b><i>Executive Director of JPI</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;"><i>Originally Posted on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-schindler-/a-national-agenda-for-criminal-justice-reform-not-just-second-chances-but-a-rational-first-response_b_7805352.html" target="_blank">Huffington Post's Crime Blog</a></i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYH2aLzCSWrKPEq-46NKkE89GazOFytLXKdnxA3ArR7fin5hFiCvBitWVjAUiJ1TeLa0oXPI4oqBhjIUJ7oz_F8jZKByX66MLGIA2J3xwQc2t5P2o937uMbnudcqXefacLHyHP4yyPXXhQ/s1600/480691084-president-barack-obama-addresses-attendees-at-the-106th.jpg.CROP.promo-xlarge2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYH2aLzCSWrKPEq-46NKkE89GazOFytLXKdnxA3ArR7fin5hFiCvBitWVjAUiJ1TeLa0oXPI4oqBhjIUJ7oz_F8jZKByX66MLGIA2J3xwQc2t5P2o937uMbnudcqXefacLHyHP4yyPXXhQ/s400/480691084-president-barack-obama-addresses-attendees-at-the-106th.jpg.CROP.promo-xlarge2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">During a powerful speech to the NAACP
convention on Tuesday, President Obama outlined sweeping reforms
to ensure our justice system is more fair and
effective. He will be the first President to
visit a federal prison, and he commuted more sentences in a single
day since Lyndon B. Johnson. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">These efforts will surely illuminate some of the most
glaring problems with our nation’s justice system, such as the
excessive incarceration of people convicted of nonviolent drug
offenses and deplorable practices of solitary
confinement. Solving the nation’s crisis of incarceration will
require sustained attention and committed action. And while removing or
reducing time served by people convicted of nonviolent drug
offenses would be significant, ending the era of our
incarceration generation requires deeper changes where incarceration is used as
the last resort. This would be a dramatic shift from current practices where
incarceration is too often used as the first response to social problems.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Obama’s speech rang like music to the ears of
community activists, advocates and experts who have long
called for reforms like
eliminating mandatory sentences, ending the use
of solitary confinement, and investing in hard-hit
neighborhoods. As the President noted, there is nothing new about
recognizing the failures of the criminal justice system. What has changed is a growing political and
popular consensus that business as usual isn’t working for
anyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">When I learned of Obama’s scheduled visit to the
El Reno federal prison in Oklahoma on Thursday, my first thought
was gratitude for an encounter that is long overdue. My
second thought was disbelief. Was it possible that a sitting President of
the United States, which spends $80 billion each year to house the
world’s largest incarcerated population, has never
before investigated the impacts firsthand? Imagine a nation
where health care or education policy is designed and implemented on state and
federal levels without the Commander in Chief ever stepping into a
hospital or school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">It’s well known that the justice system
disproportionately impacts young men of color, and treats people of color
differently for the same crimes. Essentially, there is glaring unfairness in
our so-called justice system. The President also spoke to
the enormity of the system in terms of its costs and impact on
children and families.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Consider the magnitude. Expanding on an estimate
from a Bureau of Justice report, roughly 2.5 million children have
incarcerated parents. Using the same math and
considering that about 70 million people
have criminal records that means approximately 78 million
children have parents with a record. In the end the total number
is staggering: out of a national population of 318.9 million
people,<b> 153 million </b>are either in
prison or jail, have a criminal record, or have
parents who are in prison or jail, or have a conviction<b>. </b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">And this is the first time a sitting President
has visited a U.S. prison?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">I have every hope that the President will be deeply
impacted by what he experiences in El Reno. In my own
work, visits to prisons and encounters with people in
prison have been some of the most powerful ways to motivate reform.
Following the President’s lead, every governor, mayor and county executive
should be called on to visit an adult or juvenile facility within the next 60
days. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">I know that the commutations the President ordered this
week will mean everything to the people who have been given
a second chance. And diverting individuals or reducing sentences
for people convicted of nonviolent offenses would make a significant
dent in the imprisoned population. But sentencing reform should
be considered more broadly and account for actual public safety benefits. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project has advanced the
idea of sentencing maximums, which cap sentences at 20 years except for
the most extreme instances. Decades long sentences increase costs without
advancing safety. To implement comprehensive reforms we need to address
excessively long sentencing system-wide, not just for non-violent drug
offenders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">The President says that we are a people that believe in second
chances. I agree with that, but we also must scrutinize our first
responses. Now is the time where we must work together to ask
and answer the hard questions: In what instances is prison the correct
response? For whom is it the right option? And what is it intended to do?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">To truly transform our justice system, we need to not only open
our eyes to its failures but also question its intent. We all need to work
together to make sure that this shift is not just in the way we talk about
prisons, but ultimately in how they are used—as a last resort, in
limited circumstances, and always measured by their fairness and effectiveness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-50843273510935362312015-06-18T16:02:00.000-04:002015-06-18T16:03:12.694-04:00Labor Pains: Banning shackling during childbirth isn’t enough<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>BY Daniel Landsman</b></div>
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<b><i>Former JPI Intern</i></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0qc9gylrOCHYD8hRYc84v9C1gf-_Ur9WupWiBZt_hiZpQDdAQdqiLpQJmw_RCmKn-o77gsiIq5I2aiHd_WU7brqefgi2tRxScGqEtRjKmFQODtWxQYNFR5WBAJFv-ah1jTRRk6kfvxX26/s1600/childbirth-in-shackles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0qc9gylrOCHYD8hRYc84v9C1gf-_Ur9WupWiBZt_hiZpQDdAQdqiLpQJmw_RCmKn-o77gsiIq5I2aiHd_WU7brqefgi2tRxScGqEtRjKmFQODtWxQYNFR5WBAJFv-ah1jTRRk6kfvxX26/s1600/childbirth-in-shackles.jpg" /></a>In November 2008, <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128563037">Jennifer
Farrar</a> was arrested for cashing fake payroll checks and booked into Cook
County Jail in Chicago, Illinois. Farrar went into labor during a hearing in
January 2009 and was rushed to the hospital, shackled and chained. When she
arrived at the hospital, the belly chain was removed but her hands and feet
remained cuffed, despite doctors and nurses asking for their removal. Finally,
when it came time to push, all but one cuff was removed, leaving her left arm
cuffed to the hospital bed while she was giving birth. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Farrar became one of the many
women to give birth while under the custody of a prison or jail and with one or
more of their limbs shackled.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Women throughout the country are
at risk of being subjected to the same treatment Jennifer Farrah received
during the birth of her child. <a href="https://ihrclinic.uchicago.edu/sites/ihrclinic.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/Report%20-%20Shackling%20of%20Pregnant%20Prisoners%20in%20the%20US.pdf">29
states</a> (report was completed before legislation was passed in <a href="https://legiscan.com/MD/bill/HB27/2014">Maryland</a>, <a href="http://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2014/05/21/ma-shackling-victory/">Massachusetts</a>,
and <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/15/hard-labor?ref=hp-2-111">Minnesota</a>)
do not have state laws preventing the shackling of pregnant women who are in
the custody of correctional systems during childbirth. Of those 29 states, 21
have departmental policies banning or regulating the practice. The remaining seven
states view women in labor as a safety risk that must be shackled at the
ankles, wrists, and across the belly. These shackles can cause <a href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/anti-shackling_briefing_paper_stand_alone.pdf">serious
health risks</a> during childbirth and are clear violations of our protections
against cruel and unusual punishment.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It seems that state laws or departmental
policies addressing the issue are not enough. Take, for example, the State of
Tennessee. Following a lawsuit against the city of Nashville, after a woman in
the U.S. without documentation was detained for driving without a license and
forced to endure the pains of labor while cuffed to a hospital bed, the
Tennessee Department of Corrections created a policy against the use of restraints.
However, the policy did not specifically ban the practice during the total
duration of labor. Instead, the policy gives discretion to corrections officers,
directing that “restraint devices and methods employed during movement and
transportation be appropriate to the medical and security needs of the inmate”.
In other words, because women are likely to be at the prison when they go into
labor, they can be shackled while they are being taken to the hospital and in
any movement throughout the hospital. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Similarly, despite state
legislation to end the practice in New York, women continued to be shackled
during labor. According to a <a href="http://www.correctionalassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Reproductive-Injustice-FULL-REPORT-FINAL-2-11-15.pdf">report</a>
by the Correction Association of New York, 23 of 27 women interviewed were
shackled during pregnancy in direct violation of a law banning the practice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As the population of women in
prison continues to grow— <a href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=138"> an increase of 100,000 since 1980</a>—we
cannot allow state and federal prisons to continue the barbaric act of
shackling women during childbirth. These states need to enact legislation (or
even policy) that contains clear language banning the practice, such as the
bill enacted in <a href="https://malegislature.gov/Bills/188/House/H1433">Washington</a>,
D.C. in 2013. The bill provides many rights to pregnant women in the correctional
system, including banning shackling of pregnant women beginning in their third trimester.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Passing legislation or enacting
policy is an important step in the process of stopping this practice,
correction officers must be trained on anti-shackling laws as they are passed
and women must be properly educated on their rights under anti-shackling laws. States
need to clearly communicate to the Department of Corrections and the
correctional officers that the practice of shackling women in labor is no long
acceptable. A shift in attitude about
shackling women during labor is a long time coming and will likely go a long
way to ensuring the safety and well-being of women and their babies. <o:p></o:p></div>
Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-36732709353097590162015-06-04T15:00:00.000-04:002015-06-04T15:00:58.666-04:00Bringing an End to the Incarceration Generation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b><i>By Marc Schindler</i></b></div>
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<i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">This blog post originally appeared on The Huffington Post's <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-schindler-/bringing-an-end-to-the-incarceration-generation_b_7487154.html" target="_blank">Crime Blog </a></i></div>
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In the not so distant past, election cycles inevitably saw a political race to incarcerate where candidates competed to be the toughest on crime. Making history as the first candidate to raise the issue of ending the "incarceration generation" during a presidential election, Hillary Rodham Clinton has effectively repudiated the very policies her husband and others designed and implemented during the drumbeat of the lock 'em policies of the 1990s. The hallmark of that effort was the 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill, which was signed by Bill Clinton and resulted in increased federal funding for police and prisons, and encouraged longer prison sentences.</div>
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The political landscape has changed dramatically, and leaders from all across the spectrum are finally embracing "smart on crime" reforms to reduce the costs and size of a criminal justice system widely recognized to be broken and ineffective. In just the last few months, amidst calls for racial justice and policing reforms in communities like Baltimore and Ferguson, over six hundred interested lawmakers, advocates, faith leaders and researchers attended a national bipartisan summit in Washington calling for criminal justice reform.</div>
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The radical shift in rhetoric, however, has yet to be followed by the kinds of sweeping, comprehensive reforms that would result in a serious dent in our nation's prison population. By contrast, when the tough on crime movement took hold in the '90s, it was followed by expansive and widespread policy changes at every level of government that resulted in an explosion in the prison population. With the exception of a two-year dip, prison and jail populations nationally have continued to rise. As of 2013, there were 2.2 million people in prisons and jails and 4.8 million in the community on probation or parole, for a grand total of nearly 7 million people under the justice system's control. If we are serious about ending the failed era of mass incarceration, we need to have the rhetoric followed by concrete policies and implementation.</div>
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The need for these changes has been evident for decades, and finally is getting the attention it deserves. Sadly, it has taken recent tragic events to put a national spotlight on problematic policing practices with racially disparate impact, neither of which is a new problem. That said, while policing reforms are critically important to eliminating the use of excessive force and reducing the number of people coming into the justice system, they remain part of a larger criminal justice approach that has devastated already vulnerable communities, and targeted people of color.</div>
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None of these problems are new and have been documented before, including by the Kerner Report issued in 1968 following unrest in communities of color across the country. Finding that the unrest in African American communities was largely the result of frustrations due to a lack of economic opportunity, the report called for investments to create jobs, improve housing and address de facto segregation in our communities.</div>
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Now, almost 50 years later little has changed and we see many of the same pervasive problems existing in cities across the country. And in fact, maybe the biggest change is that in addition to the problems of the past, we have now added mass incarceration to the list of problems plaguing these communities. For example, in <a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/research/8764" target="_blank">a recent analysis</a>, the Justice Policy Institute and the Prison Policy Initiative found that Maryland spends $300 million to incarcerate people from the city of Baltimore, who make up one out of three people in state prison. Freddie Gray's neighborhood of Sandtown-Winchester/Harlem Park has an incarceration rate eight times that of the state of Maryland, with the result being that $17 million in taxpayer dollars are spent each year to incarcerate people from that small community.</div>
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The same neighborhood has some of the city's worst indicators for public health, including lower levels of income and education, a high exposure to lead paint, and a shorter life expectancy than neighborhoods within a short radius, essentially the same types of conditions documented in the Kerner Report. The only "investment" with a clear impact in that neighborhood is the criminal justice system, which touches nearly everyone in Sandtown-Winchester in some way.</div>
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As the camera crews pull away from Baltimore, few have noted that policymakers in Annapolis and federally took no meaningful steps in the last legislative session to reduce prison or jail populations.</div>
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Without a dramatic change, spending on prisons and a criminal justice approach as the first response to economic challenges will continue to undermine the social fabric of the most vulnerable neighborhoods. And even millions of dollars invested in social services will do little to improve circumstance if the criminal justice system continues to touch nearly every element of people's lives.</div>
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Efforts to reform the justice system are not new, and many of the political leaders championing changes today are followers rather than the innovators. Some are even trying to undue the consequences of their own actions taken in the 90s. Those in the field know that ending mandatory minimum sentences by giving judges more sentencing discretion, reversing "truth in sentencing" laws that result in unnecessarily long times in prison, and providing treatment rather than incarceration to drug offenders are the types of changes that are needed.</div>
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It is important to recognize that progress has in fact been made in some states. The state of New York was able to reform its draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws in 2009, and saw an 18 percent decrease in the prison population without compromising public safety. California recently shifted a series of offenses from felonies to misdemeanors, which will mean fewer people can be sent to state prison. But mandatory minimums that keep people in prison too long remain on the books in both states.</div>
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No single category of reform will turn around the era of incarceration generation. Appropriate practices in policing that serve the community rather than fight it are essential to neighborhood and community interactions. Providing robust treatment and mental health options to keep people outside of the prison system is essential. Allowing people who have served their time to successfully reintegrate into communities is critical to allowing people to stay out of the system.<br />
To make a significant reduction in the population of people in prison would also require a tough and unflinching look at who is in prison, for how long, and to what benefit.</div>
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An examination of violent offenses more broadly shows that, according to a recent report by the National Institute of Justice, even though burglary is categorized as a property offense, it is most often prosecuted as a violent offense. Looking at the aging population of prisoners, who research suggests are unlikely to ever offend again, would provide another class of individuals who could be returned to the community with minimal public safety risk.</div>
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Looking closely at the category of "sex offender," for example would reveal that many who are on registries are not the predators they are imaged to be. "Romeo and Juliet" crimes can fall in that category, as can exposure in public. And providing developmentally-appropriate approaches to 18-24 year-olds, who are neurologically wired to change, is another entire category of people who could be managed more effectively and save precious tax dollars.</div>
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The '90s saw impassioned rhetoric followed by sweeping changes and a rapidly different prison population. While no one is advocating for the knee-jerk policies of the past, we are still waiting for a comprehensive national reform agenda that looks closely at each point of the system, from the first contact with police to diversion, sentencing, or prison to reintegration after contact. We moved the ship but are still waiting for the tide to turn.</div>
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The good news is that more today is known than ever before about what works and doesn't work to address offending and promote safety. We have the information and research to support making big changes. We now need the leadership to usher in a new age.</div>
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<i>Marc Schindler is the Executive Director of the Justice Policy Institute. </i></div>
Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-41177450465025205952015-03-31T15:05:00.000-04:002015-03-31T15:06:05.008-04:00Adjusting Police Attitudes<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>By Tatiana Laing<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<i>JPI Intern</i></div>
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This month, I had the opportunity to attend two events on policing. They had different focuses, but a common tone, and left me sure of one thing: We need to reform the way we police in America. <br />
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On March 4th, I attended Values Based Policing, hosted by the Police Foundation. The presenter at this event was Dr. Richard Adams, Chief Inspector of Police Scotland. In addition to serving as a police officer in Scotland for over 20 years, Dr. Adams attained a law degree, a Master’s in International Law and a professional doctorate in Policing. As the one of the individuals charged with creating a code of ethics for Scotland’s national police force, Adams had a lot of interesting insights on the difference in policing between Scotland and the United States. Given the recent Department of Justice report concluding that the Ferguson police department had routinely violated the civil rights of the community, Dr. Adams’ talk on the values of policing was particularly interesting.</div>
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The ethics code that Dr. Adams helped create for Police Scotland includes three core values—fairness, integrity and respect—with which the police in Scotland are urged to enforce the law. Dr. Adams pointed out that in creating an ethics code, the goal was not necessarily to reduce arrests, but to change the attitude of police officers and the experience of community members that encounter police. He reminded us that the goal of policing is to protect people and serve the community; in order to do so, there needs to be mutual trust and respect between police officers and community members.<br />
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Sitting through this event, I couldn’t help but wonder how policing in the United States could improve if there was a focus on trust and respect between police officers and the communities they serve rather than on making as many arrests as possible.<br />
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I was able to explore this disconnect between police and communities when I attended another event on March 16th, “Broken Windows or Broken Badges,” hosted by New America. This event focused on the role of police, given recent events in Ferguson, Staten Island and throughout the country, which have created a movement against police brutality (particularly among communities of color).</div>
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The panel at this event included Dr. Greg Carr, Associate Professor & Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University; Sgt. Delroy A. Burton, Chairman of the D.C. Police Union; and Tanya Clay House, Director of Public Policy at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. These speakers engaged in a lively debate about whether or not reform, specifically the suggestions from President Obama’s task force on policing, can change the way we police in America. According to the <a href="http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/Interim_TF_Report.pdf">report</a>,<br />
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“The task force was created to strengthen community policing and trust among law enforcement officers and the communities they serve, especially in light of recent events around the country that have underscored the need for and importance of lasting collaborative relationships between local police and the public."<br />
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The panelists criticized the recommendations of the report, calling the report rushed and surface level. While Dr. Carr and Ms. House agreed that police should address that they have contributed to the criminalization of communities of color, Sgt. Burton disagreed and also claimed that a lack of resources would continue to inhibit police from changing any protocols.The only thing that all of the panelists seemed to agree on was that police officers have to combat distrust that has a historical context. <br />
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Despite law enforcement’s mandate to serve and protect the people, communities of color have rarely viewed police as officials who perform either of these functions—too often falling short in enforcing the laws fairly or doing so in a way that is blatantly unjust. If this country is to ever see a beneficial relationship between police and minority communities, the police departments should adjust attitudes and stress the importance of integrity, fairness, and respect.<br />
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Police should focus on protecting communities rather than defending themselves from dangers that may not even exist. In addition to changing attitudes, our police force must become aware of their own implicit biases. We ask police to make life or death decisions in a split second; that’s only enough time to act on biases rather then to think about the racial implications of the assumptions he/she could be making. But if more police departments focused on these assumptions and biases and how to overcome them, then many more unarmed people of color will survive interactions with the police.<br />
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<i>Tatiana Laing is JPI's communications intern. She is is a junior honors student in the School of Public Affairs at American University, majoring in CLEG (Communications, Law, Economics, and Government).</i></div>
Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072873304712794140.post-2783618718623671412015-02-18T11:23:00.000-05:002015-02-18T14:13:08.086-05:00Reducing Incarceration & Scaling Back the Criminal Justice System: A Bipartisan Approach<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>By: Natacia Caton</b></div>
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<i>JPI Intern</i></div>
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Nearly a week after President Obama stood before Congress and addressed the Nation at the 2015 State of the Union Address, a speech in which he urged Democrats and Republicans to join forces in order to reform America’s flawed criminal justice system, members from both sides of the political aisle came together on Capitol Hill to discuss the looming issues surrounding the topic of criminal justice reform.<br />
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On [January 28th, 2015], the Constitution Project hosted a bipartisan briefing, “Advancing Criminal Justice Reform in 2015,” featuring congressmen, activists and other experts dedicated to the cause. Moderated by TCP board member and former American Conservative Union chair, David Keene, the panel included Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.); Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio); Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.); Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.); prison reform activist and author of the memoir Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, Piper Kerman; director of the Center for Criminal Justice Reform at the American Conservative Union Foundation, Pat Nolan; former Obama administration advisor and political commentator, Van Jones; and Mark Holden, the general counsel and senior vice president of Koch Industries, Inc.<br />
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Each speaker either presented or supported federal legislation geared toward addressing important issues related to criminal justice reform at the state and federal levels.<br />
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The proposed bills mark a step in the right direction for conservatives and liberals united in tackling these issues. Key pieces of legislation introduced that have gained bipartisan support include:<br />
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•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Second Chance Act – provides federal funding to government agencies and non-profit organizations aiming to reduce recidivism through the implementation of support strategies and services offered to individuals on parole;<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Smarter Sentencing Act – lightens extreme, long-term prison sentences that result from mandatory-minimum statutes. This bill will help to alleviate prison overcrowding and mass incarceration, and offer better opportunities for rehabilitation for those who commit nonviolent crimes;<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Recidivism Reduction and Public Safety Act – assesses and implements recidivism reduction programs and rehabilitative services in correctional facilities. This bill will help incarcerated individuals develop skills that will strengthen their rehabilitation process.<br />
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“We are the most incarcerated nation on the face of the earth,” said Congressman Davis, a co-sponsor of the Second Chance Act. Davis called for support of legislation to make it easier for individuals to return to their community through effective re-entry strategies.<br />
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Conservative panelist Pat Nolan also backed the Second Chance Act by reminding everyone that “the essential message of [the act] is that prisoners are people we should care about” and that “their future after they leave prison is something that matters to us.”<br />
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Nolan spoke briefly about his own stint in federal prison, which helped him realize that people in prison who are approaching release should be prepared to re-enter society with motivation and confidence.<br />
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Liberal panelist Van Jones credited the Annie E. Casey Foundation for its contributions in the juvenile justice field, including its role in helping to reduce youth incarceration by fifty percent with no increase in the number of offenses committed.<br />
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“We need substantive rehabilitation resources for children in the system, and for young people…so that we can get those folks out of the system, because everyone understands that those investments in those young people will yield dividends for all of us,” said Piper Kerman.<br />
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Several attendees also pointed out that incarceration does not fix issues related to mental illness and substance abuse, but in fact worsens these conditions.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1snNEQejhKEPc9IPAAdiGXHV3l4d_wkNRW4DuhvBiI8dIdTaH_sM9YVAIgDl9ApXj81QB59eaM-JDrTiQ7Ycn2on9MDfwBpSWDyqKiTjpVfXR-kmhvZmlX9xyeDmW2kDn4OidmOewrAs/s1600/scales-of-justice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1snNEQejhKEPc9IPAAdiGXHV3l4d_wkNRW4DuhvBiI8dIdTaH_sM9YVAIgDl9ApXj81QB59eaM-JDrTiQ7Ycn2on9MDfwBpSWDyqKiTjpVfXR-kmhvZmlX9xyeDmW2kDn4OidmOewrAs/s1600/scales-of-justice.jpg" height="222" width="320" /></a>Senator Franken commented that our criminal justice system is being used as “a substitute for a fully functioning mental health system.” Franken further noted that almost 11,000 people incarcerated in the nation’s three largest jail systems undergo mental health treatment every day, while the three largest mental health facilities in the nation have a combined total of 4,000 beds. Pat Nolan informed the crowd of an interesting statistic during his segment: according to Pew Research Center, 1 in 100 U.S. residents are incarcerated in prison or jail, and 1 in every 41 U.S. residents is under some type of government supervision. Nolan argues that these astonishing statistics are attributed to over-criminalization and mass government control. If the government has this much control, then why doesn’t it allocate some of its power toward investing in re-entry programs for people on parole?<br />
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Because of the limited amount of resources that people incarcerated have, it is up to the government to provide them with the opportunity to make something of themselves following incarceration. Incarceration itself does not rehabilitate people; that is the government’s responsibility.<br />
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #353c40; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 19.7999992370605px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Natacia Caton is Justice Policy Institute’s research intern. She is a graduate student at American University, </span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #353c40; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><i>pursuing a Master’s Degree in Justice, Law, and Criminology, with a concentration in Justice and Public Policy.</i></span></div>
Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769341428210861400noreply@blogger.com0