Tagged With "criminal justice reform"
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Re: 7.25+
HI Zachary- thank you for the post and sharing the video. SO POWERFUL and hopeful. We need to change the systems that incarcerate rather than, as you say address what happened to them (and moving upstream, be asking kids this BEFORE they get into the system. (Note, this is the third time today that someone shared this video!)
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Re: 7.25+
Zachary, Thank you for sharing your work, this numbers you offer are critical for understanding the connection. You were on target in sharing the powerful video that we can pass along.
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Re: 7.25+
Thank you Zachary, Yes, I too saw this video posted on facebook last week. As a substitute teacher (nowhere near retired), I see my ability to use trauma informed practices is directly enhanced by my learning to address White Supremacy Culture. I'm happy my state education association recently publicly named that. I'm learning that all the many people who've been directly impacted by incarceration have so many practical solutions! Those of us nearer the decision-making (traditionally-- with...
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Re: Pipeline to Prison May Start with Childhood Trauma
Hi Emily, Thank you for your critically imperative post. So important that we (society) are well informed and engaged in transforming our systems to focus on bringing hope and healing to whom we serve cross-sector in a socio-ecological model, please find a link to an exemplary School to Prison Pipeline prezi with the glaring statistics of the reality and just as importantly, all the solutions on transforming this punitive pipeline. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmI5nROpbqc if...
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Will the Coronavirus Make Us Rethink Mass Incarceration? (newyorker.com)
For decades, community groups have pointed out the social costs of mass incarceration: its failure to address the root causes of addiction and violence; its steep fiscal price tag; its deepening of racial inequalities. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed another danger of the system: its public-health risks. In April, the American Civil Liberties Union worked with epidemiologists and statisticians to show that, without protective measures in jails and prisons, including rapid reductions in...
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"How to talk policy and influence people": a Law and Justice interview with Fritzi Horstman
In this "How to talk policy and influence people" interview with Fritzi Horstman, founder and CEO of the Compassion Prison Project (see http://compassionprisonproject.org/), we discuss childhood trauma, the significance of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) science, offending behaviour, addiction, violence and the fact that the men and women who end up in prisons are often among the most traumatized members of any society. We talk about the power of the "Step Inside the Circle"...
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Barton: Address childhood trauma for criminal justice reform (The Times)
By Kevin Barton, July 1, 2020, The Times. 'By the time a crime is committed and a victim is harmed, the root causes of that crime may have occurred long ago.' It is impossible to work within our American criminal justice system and witness the events over the past several months without asking whether there is a better way of doing things. The disparities that we see throughout society in areas such as education, housing and healthcare are even more apparent when viewed through the lens of...
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New episode of Transforming Trauma! Compassion Prison Project: Bringing Trauma-informed Care into the Prison System with Fritzi Horstman
Transforming Trauma Episode 017: Compassion Prison Project: Bringing Trauma-informed Care into the Prison System with Fritzi Horstman In this episode of Transforming Trauma, our host Sarah Buino is joined by Fritzi Horstman, Founder and Executive Director of the Compassion Prison Project . Through her work, Fritzi aims to bring trauma-informed care to a population in high need of trauma healing and not likely to receive it: men and women in prison. Sarah and Fritzi discuss Adverse Childhood...
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Police Reform Should Include Implementing ACEs Science
When I first learned about ACEs science, I was working for the local police department as the Director of a crime prevention program. This program was aimed at reducing drug related and violent crime by strengthening community partnerships. Our efforts yielded 19 crime prevention programs implemented by 35 community agencies. Together we reduced crime by 40% in one neighborhood, and pioneered a first probation program of its kind in Tennessee to reduce recidivism. At the end of the grant in...
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FREE Event: Trauma-Informed Correctional Design with Boston Architectural College!
Join us on December 8th for this discussion on Transforming Correctional Design for Justice Reform! Work in corrections or youth justice? Engaged in the social justice movement? Are you a designer or architect? This is one talk you can't afford to miss! Christine Cowart, of Cowart Trauma Informed Partnership will join Janet Roche, faculty member and Alumni Council member of Boston Architectural College (BAC), in alive-broadcast event, to discuss the implications of trauma-informed principles...
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Where Incarceration Isn’t the Answer (yesmagazine.org)
Progressive voices long ago characterized America’s penal system as a failure. However, in recent years, even a few button-down conservative, law-and-order types have grudgingly acknowledged the need for change. Of course, they don’t sign on to so-called “bleeding heart” concerns about human rights. But they do express alarm about the dollars and cents required to warehouse human beings with no financial return. Texas lawyer Marc Levin, who helped establish the organization Right on Crime...
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LA County’s new probation chief is known for San Diego County juvenile justice reforms (dailynews.com)
Adolfo Gonzales began work Monday as Los Angeles County’s chief probation officer, overseeing a system that supervises more than 40,000 juveniles and adults and managing an annual budget of over $1 billion. A former San Diego County probation chief, Gonzales brings 43 years of law enforcement experience to his new position, including being chief of the National City Police Department and assistant chief with the San Diego Police Department. Gonzales was appointed to the position last month...
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Now Available Online! Transforming Correctional Design for Justice Reform!
Did you miss our talk on Transforming Correctional Design for Justice Reform? Based in the irrefutable facts of the biological effects of trauma, this talk is now available for you to stream!
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Abolitionist Politics: The Case for a World without Prisons (nonprofitquarterly.org)
What is often called police and prison reform does not and has never worked for Black people. Measures to stem police violence and other acts of harm toward Black people, like hiring more Black police officers, community policing, modernized surveillance techniques, placing police outposts in under-serviced and marginalized neighborhoods, and starting sports camps run by police, among other programs, fail by their very nature because each is meant to further cement the position policing...
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A Case for Better Funding of California’s Community Alternatives to Juvenile Detention and Probation [jjie.org]
By Emma Knight | June 1, 2021, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, Supporters of the juvenile justice status quo wrongly claim that community-based organizations are not yet strong enough to serve all youth who may otherwise cycle through juvenile courts, detention centers and on and off parole rosters. Ideally, opponents to reform say, youth would be served by nonprofits close to home, but that cannot happen until enough suitable nonprofits are available. This line of thinking ignores...
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Custodial Sanctions and Reoffending: A Meta-Analytic Review [journals.uchicago.edu]
By Damon M. Petrich, Travis C. Pratt, Cheryl Lero Johnson, and Francis T. Cullen, University of Chicago, October 2021 ABSTRACT Beginning in the 1970s, the United States began an experiment in mass imprisonment. Supporters argued that harsh punishments such as imprisonment reduce crime by deterring inmates from reoffending. Skeptics argued that imprisonment may have a criminogenic effect. The skeptics were right. Previous narrative reviews and meta-analyses concluded that the overall effect...
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Join us October 27, 2021 for the inaugural event in our Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice System series, “The Relationship between PACEs and the Criminal Justice System”
Please join us for a new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly series will feature conversations facilitated by Porter Jennings-McGarity, PACEs Connection Midwest and Tennessee community facilitator and criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and...
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Prison And Jail Reentry And Health (HealthAffairs.org)
People reentering communities after incarceration are sicker than the general population and face barriers to accessing health care and other supports. Along with criminal justice reform, policy makers must work to improve evidence-based reentry programming that supports healthy people and communities. Key Points: Mass incarceration in the United States is a public health crisis that disproportionately affects Black and Brown people and their communities. Incarceration can exacerbate health...
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Examples of Current Trauma-Informed Judicial Systems
Please join us for a new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly virtual Zoom series will feature conversations facilitated by Porter Jennings-McGarity, PACEs Connection’s criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and strategies being used in this area...
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Help reunite families victim to mass incarceration to stop ACEs. Senate Bill 6164 Webinar - Get your loved one out of jail/prison sooner in WA State!
Free educational Webinar invite! Topic: Ending Mass Incarceration and Uniting families Join WashingtonCAN on 12/6 and 12/9 to learn about a tool that could help your loved one get resentenced and released early in Washington State! My name is Rashell and I’m the Lead Organizer with Washington Community Action Network (WashingtonCAN), a grassroots organization with 44,000 members that advocates for mass liberation and an end to mass incarceration, through lobbying, advocacy, and grassroots...
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Re: Governor Newsom proposes dismantling California’s death row [mercurynews.com]
George Bernard Shaw is credited with the quote: "To Punish a man, you must injure him; to Reform a man, you must improve him; and men are not improved by injuries."
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Much Like the Victims They Try to Help, Gun Violence Prevention Workers Have Scars [time.com]
Chronic stress, trauma exposure, frequent threats of violence and the relentless grind of gun crimes’ impact: A recently-released report from the University of Illinois Chicago reveals in stark terms the strain and struggles that many frontline violence prevention workers face as they try to combat gun violence. In 2022, Chicago is coming off another record year of homicides, similar to many other major cities across the U.S. 797 people were killed in 2021 with 3,677 non-fatal shootings—an...
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Felony Murder: An On-Ramp for Extreme Sentencing (sentencingproject.org)
In San Joaquin County, California in 2010, 19-year-old Emmanuel Mendoza helped lure a robbery victim to a location where a masked accomplice waited with a firearm. When a struggle with the victim over the firearm ensued, Mendoza’s accomplice fired a fatal shot. Although Mendoza did not have a weapon and the killing had not been planned, he was convicted of felony murder with special circumstances, and automatically sentenced to life without parole (LWOP). 1) In prison, he ended his gang...
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Re: Felony Murder: An On-Ramp for Extreme Sentencing (sentencingproject.org)
If Mendoza renounced his gang membership to be eligible to serve his sentence in what was once called the California Honor Prison- before it reportedly was closed down, that might explain a relevant part of the story.... (that was a requirement for admission to the Honor Prison.) The title of Angela Davis' book may be worth pondering: "Are Prisons Obsolete?" George Bernard Shaw's quote may also be: "To punish a man, you must injure him; to Reform a man, you must improve him; and men are not...
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John Legend wants to transform the criminal justice system, one DA at a time (npr.org)
John Legend is an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award-winning entertainer, who recently kicked off a Las Vegas residency and just released a new single. But he's also a well-known activist and advocate for criminal justice reform and voting rights who has supported a number of Democratic candidates over the years. He's also throwing his support behind a number of progressive prosecutors who are running on a promise to reform a criminal justice system that they say is outdated and that...
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New Trauma Informed Criminal Justice Initiatives Coming to PACEs Connection!
We are excited to launch several exciting new initiatives designed for PACEs Connection’s trauma-informed criminal justice communities this fall. You talked, and we listened! Using the excellent feedback we have received from those of you who have participated in our trauma-informed criminal justice CRC, GRC, and SRC events this year, beginning in September we will offer more opportunities for connection and dialogue for individuals and communities interested in this specific realm of...
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Equal Justice Initiative
The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.
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The National Association of Community and Restorative Justice
The National Association of Community and Restorative Justice employs principles of social and restorative justice seeking transformation in the ways justice questions are addressed. It promotes effective forms of justice that are equitable, sustainable and socially constructive. It serves as the parent organization for the National Conference on Restorative Justice and provides its members with information applicable to restorative and community justice theory and practice. Learn more about...
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Equal Justice Initiative
The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. Learn more about this organization by visiting their website at eji.org .
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"Prison Journalism Project": Independent Journalism by the Incarcerated
The Prison Journalism Project trains incarcerated writes to be journalists and publishes their stories to empower a marginalized community to be a vital voice in criminal justice reform. To read stories and learn more about this organization, visit their website at prisonjournalismproject.org.
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The "Justice Delayed" Podcast
This podcast is an examination of the American Criminal Justice System and Prison Industrial Complex. To learn more about this podcast series and listen to episodes, visit their website at justicedelayed.libsyn.com .
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The Marshall Project
The Marshall Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. Read more about this organization by visiting their website at themarshallproject.org.
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The Annie E. Casey Foundation Juvenile Justice Reform Agenda
The Foundation’s juvenile justice reform agenda is designed to improve the odds that at-risk youth can make successful transitions to adulthood. We are working to create a system that locks up fewer youth and relies more on proven, family-focused interventions that create opportunities for positive youth development. To learn more, visit https://www.aecf.org/work/juvenile-justice .
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Re: The crime victims’ advocate fighting mass incarceration: ‘How we actually stop violence’ [TheGuardian.com]
If we consider 'Panther Clinics' and other forms of 'Civic Engagement', such as I also witnessed in the South Bronx-where a 'gang' accompanied Resident Pediatric and Internal Medicine Residents who made 'House Calls' in a 'neighborhood' with 100,000 Heroin Addicts at the time, and the prior requirements for admission to the California Honor Prison-before it was closed (Renouncing [violent] Gang Membership; commitment to Non-Violence; etc.), we might not miss the meaning behind George Bernard...
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How much would the NAS poverty reduction packages reduce referrals to CPS and foster care placements? Would they reduce racial disproportionality in child welfare? (nasonline.org).
Because of a collaboration with Columbia University and UW-Madison, we have answers to these questions. By Peter Peter Pecora, Casey Family Programs, March 17, 2023 - Overview The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recently released a “ roadmap ” to reduce child poverty by as much as half through the implementation of a series of social policy packages. The aim of this study was to simulate the reductions in Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement and foster care placements that are...
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The Covington Curriculum Conference Returns to Minnesota
Strengthen your understanding and practice of gender-responsive, trauma-informed interventions when you train with Dr. Stephanie S. Covington at this national conference.
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Register Now for Inaugural Statewide Summit: Leveraging North Carolina’s Assets to Prevent Childhood Trauma — Virtually & In Raleigh April 27-28!
Information from Summit Brochure and registration site available here . North Carolina’s first Statewide Trauma Summit – a virtual and in-person summit – will beheld Thursday and Friday, April 27-28, in Raleigh, at The McKimmon Conference and Training Center, Summit leaders announced recently. “Momentum is growing in NC for building trauma-informed systems that strengthen resilience and weed out systemic and often intergenerational sources of child trauma. To advance this work, it is...
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The Covington Curriculum Conference: A Unique Learning Experience
Strengthen your understanding and practice of gender-responsive, trauma-informed interventions at this national conference.
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A Letter to Kyle
To mark the anniversary of the passage of the landmark legislation of the Georgia Mental Health Parity Act, we are sharing a letter written a year ago by Roland Behm, Co-founder of the Georgia Mental Health Policy Partnership, Board Member and Former Board Chair, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) Georgia Chapter. The letter is to his son, Kyle, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2010 as a junior in college and died by suicide in August 2019.
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Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women. (beingsusanburton.com)
Susan Burton and Cari Lynn’s social justice memoir follows Burton’s journey from a prison inmate to a leading campaigner for criminal justice system reform. Susan Burton is the founder of A New Way of Life, a nonprofit organization that provides housing and other support to formerly incarcerated women. She is nationally known as an advocate for restoring basic civil and human rights to those who have served time. Susan is the 2010 recipient of the Gleitsman Citizen Activist Award from the...