Tagged With "Criminal Justice System Reform Orgs"
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Trauma informed education in juvenile justice settings
Jane Stevens contacted me about posting our presentation delivered at the correctional educators conference this last spring. We have been delivering online professional development to all of the educators in the Ohio Juvenile Justice setting in order...
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Trauma Informed Services to End Mass Incarceration [ACLU N CA]
Sammy A. Nuñez was born into deep poverty in an abusive household. One of his earliest memories includes waking up to his mother’s blood dripping on his face as his step father beat her. This life of fear, anxiety, and trauma would form a child full of anger who would go on to replicate the violence that he had witnessed at home. The education system failed to step in and counsel a child in pain , and instead Sammy was pushed out from school and further down the road toward incarceration.
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Treat Historic Trauma to Rehabilitate Prisoners, Psychologists Say [belfasttelegraph.co.uk]
By Tess de la Mare, Belfast Telegraph Digital, January 2, 2020 The traumatic histories of offenders stuck in the prison system should be treated as a public health issue to break cycles of offending, psychologists working with inmates have said. But despite the often complex histories of violent offenders, in the UK’s squeezed prison system there are limited resources available for rehabilitation. Forensic psychologist Dr Naomi Murphy runs a five-year intensive psychotherapy programme for...
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Urban Crime Trends Remain Stable Through California's Policy Reform Era (2010-2016) Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
Newly released Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) statistics for the first six months of 2016 show California’s reported urban crime rate remained stable from 2010 through 2016, despite the implementation of large-scale criminal justice reforms during that period. The report finds that: Total urban crime fell 3 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to the first half of 2015. This decline was driven by a 4 percent reduction in property offenses and a 4 percent increase in reported...
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VA Supreme Court Reviews Order Restoring Voting Rights to 206,000 Ex-Felons (nonprofitquarterly.org)
In May, NPQ reported that Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe had issued an executive order to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 ex-inmates in time for the November election. Nonprofits and advocacy groups have been instrumental in educating and alerting ex-inmates about shedding their formerly disenfranchised status. However, Republican legislators pushed back on McAuliffe’s order almost immediately, and now they are taking the issue to the state Supreme Court to determine if the...
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Virginia Suburb Shows That Diversion, Victim-centered Agreements Work [jjie.org]
Over the last several years, the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court (JDRDC) of Fairfax County, Va., has been working on transformative efforts around juvenile justice in an effort to keep low-risk youth from entering the system and address disparities for youth of color. One large area targeted by these efforts was the diversion programming and Juvenile Intake Office. In Virginia, intake officers are decision-makers. It is their responsibility to review charges from petitioners...
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What’s Propelling Second-Chance Legislation Across America? [PSMag.com]
Margaret Love is a big believer in second chances. Since leaving her post as a pardon attorney for the Department of Justice, where she worked from 1990 to 1997, Love has been the executive director at the Collateral Consequences Resource Center, a non-profit with a focus on sentencing reform. (She also runs her own private practice .) At CCRC, Love has turned her attention to raising awareness around state-level forms of relief. “Nobody knew what was going on,” she says, explaining the need...
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Why Jails Are Booming (citylab.com)
A new report from the Prison Policy Initiative shows that the populations of local jails are swelling for reasons that have little to do with crime. State prison rates have come down modestly overall, reports the Sentencing Project , and some states can boast double-digit decreases since the turn of the century. City and county jails, meanwhile, have been bloating. Roughly two-thirds of states have seen jail populations at least double since 1983 a dozen have seen jail populations triple.
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Will 2017 Be the Year of Criminal Justice Reform? [NYTimes.com]
It’s no wonder criminal-justice reformers woke up from Election Day 2016 with a sense of existential gloom. Given candidate Donald J. Trump’s law-and-order bluster, his dystopian portrayal of rising crime and an ostensible war on the police, and a posse of advisers who think the main problem with incarceration is that we don’t do enough of it, the idea that justice reformers have anything to look forward to is at best counterintuitive. It is reasonable to expect that President Trump and his...
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Will These Latest Prison Reforms Help Ex-Inmates Get Jobs? [PSMag.com]
The Department of Justice announced last week a bundle of prison reforms aimed at easing the transition for ex-prisoners back into the outside world. The measures include the creation of a school district within the federal prison network, reforming halfway houses, and providing funds to ensure that every former inmate is issued a state ID upon re-entering society at large. If that last reform seems surprising, it shouldn’t be: Most people leaving prisons don’t have state identification,...
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Young Adult Court: Ending Mass Incarceration with Trauma Informed Criminal Justice
The last two decades have given rise to a body of research establishing that young adults are fundamentally different from both juveniles and older adults in how they process information and make decisions. The prefrontal cortex of the brain — responsible for our cognitive processing and impulse control — does not fully develop until the early to mid-20s. At the same time that young adults are going through this critical developmental phase, many find themselves facing adulthood without...
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YPD hosts specialized training for over 170 officers and advocates
I had the chance to attend a training for law enforcement and others, described below, in Yarmouth, MA, a few weeks ago. The presentation, "Trauma Informed Response Training for Law Enforcement & Multi Disciplinary Team Members," was given by retired detective Justin Boardman . Boardman was joined in the morning by the chief domestic violence prosecutor of the Cape & Islands, Michael Patterson. Here is a news story excerpt about the training from the Cape Cod newsletter (yes, the...
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Zuckerberg-Backed Data Trove Exposes the Injustices of Criminal Justice (wired.com)
AMY BACH WAS Â researching her book about the US court system when she met a woman named Sharon in Quitman County, Mississippi. One July day in 2001, Sharon said, her boyfriend took her under a bridge and beat her senseless with a tire iron. Sharon passed out numerous times before her niece intervened and stopped the man from killing her. In photos from the emergency room after the attack, Sharon's brown, almond-shaped eyes are swollen shut. She reported the crime to the police, who wrote up...
Ask the Community
Trauma Informed Policing in Manchester, N.H.
The WMUR tv coverage of this item, I believe Samantha posted in the last few days, would be helpful for this ACEs in the Criminal Justice System group.
Calendar Event
2018 National Conference on Juvenile Justice (San Diego)
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Community Mentor Summit (San Diego, CA)
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If These Walls Could Talk: Solving Reentry and Recidivism
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International Prisoner's Family Conference (Dallas, TX)
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Re: Trauma-Informed Services for Formerly Incarcerated Populations
Hi Stephanie - in Lancaster County, PA, we have been working over the past several years to "build the foundation for a trauma-informed criminal justice system". We started by providing the following trainings for criminal justice professionals, using nationally developed curricula: 1) trained entire staff of our county prison and entire staff of our county adult probation & parole department using SAMHSA's "How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses" (400 CO's...
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Re: Trauma Informed Education in Juvenile Justice
Here is the powerpoint I delivered. The presentation when well. Lots of interest. I am working with a professional development organization called PESI. They are a non-profit corporation that delivers a lot of professional development. I have my original course on supporting and educating traumatized students submitted to them and it should be available in less than two weeks
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Re: Behavioral Health, Trauma Informed Focus on Criminal Jusrice System and Recidivism
i did not see a link to register?
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Re: Behavioral Health, Trauma Informed Focus on Criminal Jusrice System and Recidivism
Go to www.exoa.org to register
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Re: Behavioral Health, Trauma Informed Focus on Criminal Jusrice System and Recidivism
go to www.exoa.org or contact Esther Ford at estherford777@gmail.com Allen Sweatt, CPRS, CPS, RPS cell 202-812-9345 Sometimes when things are falling apart, they are actually falling into place. On Mon, Jul 6, 2015 at 10:07 AM, ACEsConnection < communitymanager@acesconnection.com> wrote:
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Re: Trauma Informed Education in Juvenile Justice
Jennifer Thank you for your interest in our work Hi Robert, I'd like to hear more about this effort -- specifically, when you say 'educators' do you mean staff who teach within the detention facility? Most of the individuals who took the training are direct teaching staff. Many counselors and administrators took the training as well. And, were any of the detention staff trained in TI as well? What do you mean by TI? No no detention staff were trained. The focus was on improving teacher...
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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: Proposition 47: A failure to learn history’s lesson (sacbee.com)
Anna, I'm saddened to hear of this gentleman's pain and our systems not supporting his healing. Every "system" should intentionally focus on supporting who they serve heal. Every professional who supports humanity should have their system support their own well being with compassion. Every individual deserves hope... I'm uplifted knowing all of our 12,000 + ACEs Connection members, and many others, are on the front line of systems change and creating cultures of caring. We've come a long...
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Re: Humboldt County Jail speaker series aims to inspire inmates (kiem-tv.com)
Congratulations Robert! Tremendously exciting to hear of you becoming a VISTA and a Toastmaster! Collaborating closely with many re-entry folks over the years who've been incarcerated and are now transforming lives and communities through modeling and mentoring others, I'm continually inspired by their wisdom and heart-based leadership. Always sharing with them the power of their voice , the most inspirational words and insights come from those with lived experiences. And I just love the...
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Re: YPD hosts specialized training for over 170 officers and advocates
How did I miss this? It certainly can be, there are a few different ideas around the interview process in the Justice System. I'd be happy to explain. Just too much to write. One of the problems is getting in front of people is smaller areas. The Justice System and especially Law Enforcement don't have funding to do the right thing. Crazy as that sounds, in fact, it is mostly the Community Non-Profits that hire me to speak to their Law Enforcement. Let me know if you would like to chat...
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Re: For Male Victims Of Child Sexual Abuse, Untreated Trauma Can Lead To Run-Ins With The Law (wpin.org)
Overseeing development of the first Day Reporting Center in the state of TN which went on to be acquired and replicated by the TN Dept of Corrections was a tremendous honor to me. During that time I learned many involved in the justice system have histories of childhood trauma. Thank you for sharing this story and the wonderful work this gentleman is now doing to mentor other youth! Trauma is not an excuse for drugs or crime but it offers an explanation for it.
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Re: Putting Their Prison Pasts Behind Them (nationswell.com)
That's fantastic, Becky! Thank you for forwarding to one of the Assistant Commissioners of state corrections! Please consider inviting them to join our ACEs in Criminal Justice community on ACEs Connection. With so many solutions shared in many communities and criminal justice systems (such as, the most humane prison in our world - Norway prison system ), learning from so many innovative approaches, and community-driven solutions, the site would also benefit profoundly from the Assistant...
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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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Re: Banning in-person jail visits is foolish and needlessly cruel (latimes.com)
Yes... absolutely concurring with you Rick. Individuals who are incarcerated need opportunities to heal, within the system and when they return to their community. It's heartbreaking to realize how many sons and daughters are treated as caged animals. Knowing there are pockets of hope and healing with the criminal justice system, my hope is all of our collective synergy and momentum will support the transformation of the justice systems (juvenile and adult, courts, jails, prisons, detention...
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Re: Confused
Hi Ed, First of all, you are amazing for sharing your story. I currently work in the prison system with adults about to be released, and would be happy to talk to you more about this topic. Feel free to email me kingtj134@gmail.com and let me know how I can help! And, welcome home.
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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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Proposition 47 and Racial Disparities in California [ppic.org]
From Public Policy Institute of California, June 16, 2020 About the Program While the COVID-19 pandemic has required changes to law enforcement and correctional policies, widespread protests over the police-involved deaths of African Americans have intensified concern about racial and ethnic disparities in our criminal justice system. In recent years, California has implemented significant reforms that, while not motivated by racial disparities, are narrowing them. PPIC researcher Brandon...
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California jail population plummets during the pandemic. Could this lead to long-term change? [sacbee.com]
By Jason Pohl, The Sacramento Bee, May 27, 2020 California’s long history of altering its criminal justice system — from requiring life in prison for third-strike offenders to reducing the punishment for hundreds of crimes — is having another moment that could dramatically alter how the state locks people up. In a seismic, almost overnight shift, California has jailed 21,700 fewer people — nearly one-third of its daily population — in county lockups since the new coronavirus hit the state.