Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Restorative Justice in Indian Country

    April 16, 2021 |

    Dissent Magazine |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Penobscot Indian Island Reservation, Maine

    Like standard drug courts, the Penobscot Nation's Healing to Wellness Court refers people facing drug-related criminal charges to substance abuse counseling as an alternative to punishment. But this court and other tribal wellness courts are steeped in indigenous customs, blended with restorative justice approaches, to emphasize rehabilitation based on trust, support, and native traditions. The threat of punishment looms over participants should they fail in their counseling program. But no one has been jailed in the past two years in the Penobscot program.

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  • The Mexican women who kicked out the cartels

    April 15, 2021 |

    The Guardian |

    Video |

    5-15 Minutes

    Response Location: Mexico, Cherán, Michoacan

    Ten years after the women of Cherán, an indigenous town in Michoacán, took up arms to lead an uprising against criminal cartels, their town is an "oasis" of low crime in a region otherwise beset with violence. The town declared itself autonomous and women now belong to the community police force that patrols the town and its surroundings. The cartels' illegal logging and extortion of businesses had corrupted local politicians and threatened a way of life. The town's men did nothing about it, so the women led the uprising that established order and kept the crime at bay.

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  • A Portland Program Intended to Reduce Police Interactions With People in Crisis Is Off to a Slow Start

    April 14, 2021 |

    Willamette Week |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

    The Portland Street Response program sends a paramedic and social worker on non-emergency calls, often involving mental health crises, instead of sending police. The pilot project, operating during weekday hours in one neighborhood, was assigned 60 calls in its first 40 business days. That tiny percentage of 911 calls falls short of expectations, possibly because dispatchers' screening of calls is defined too narrowly, or because dispatchers are being protective of the police. Supporters say the program always was meant to start small and deliberately, but its call volume is averaging much less than planned.

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  • No badges. No guns. Can violence interrupters help Minneapolis?

    April 13, 2021 |

    The Christian Science Monitor |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

    MinneapolUS puts unarmed community members on Minneapolis streets to prevent street violence, part of the city's effort to redirect resources from the police to other crime-prevention efforts. Four teams of 20 to 30 members, many of them former gang members and formerly incarcerated, have intervened in beatings and potential shootings. They use a public-health approach pioneered by the organization Cure Violence, which has proven effective in other cities.

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  • What do communities do when the police retreat?

    April 12, 2021 |

    The Washington Post |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

    Little Earth Protectors is one of several community patrol groups that emerged in Minneapolis' unrest after George Floyd's death in police custody. Named for a mostly Native American neighborhood with high rates of violence, the Protectors filled a vacuum left by short-staffed police who had lost support in the community. Patrolling the streets, usually unarmed, the Protectors mediate disputes, discourage drug and prostitution activity, and guard against property destruction. Seven larger groups doing this work have been given city contracts to provide their services if civil unrest breaks out again.

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  • The Polarised City (1): How 2 Jos Communities Struggle To Unite After Years Of Crises

    April 12, 2021 |

    HumAngle |

    Multi-Media |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Nigeria, Jos

    With help from nongovernmental organizations, the people of two communities who clashed violently since 2001 found ways to coexist peacefully since 2019. Violent attacks and reprisals between the Christians of Unguwar Balakazai and Muslims of Mai Damisa claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed homes repeatedly. Elders trained by the Youth Initiative Against Violence and Human Rights Abuse told youth stories about peace in Jos in the past. Youth ambassadors trained by the Jos Stakeholders for Peace Centre met and agreed to lay down their weapons.

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  • In the wake of hate, the law is not always enough

    April 11, 2021 |

    Concord Monitor |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Dover, New Hampshire

    Hate crime laws apply to a narrow range of conduct, and often fail as a response to bias incidents that constitute hate speech but are not in themselves a crime. When high school students working on a history class project produced a video with a song treating the KKK and racist murders as a joke, the school and community responded not with prosecutions but with community dialogues to air differences of opinion about the incident. Students of color then formed a group, Project D.R.E.A.M., that expanded the conversations to the entire school, educating a mainly white community about the impact of racism.

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  • In a changing city, Germantown still has men who care

    April 07, 2021 |

    Generocity |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    An organization in North Philadelphia facilitates anti-violence programs through youth mentoring and community outreach. Men Who Care aims to prevent crime and to provide an “all-inclusive community care effort” to improve the quality of life for community members through a variety of services and activities. A few of those initiatives include: Community festivals, education pods during virtual learning, weekly food pantries, and financial scholarships for college.

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  • 'Life After The Gunshot' Documents The Impact Of Hospital Interventions After Gun Injury, Trauma

    April 07, 2021 |

    WBUR |

    Radio Talk Show |

    5-15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

    A college professor and a former stabbing victim counsel young men in the hospital soon after they are shot or stabbed. These interventions, based on trust and shared experiences, are meant to prevent repeat injuries, which are common for people with traumatic experiences. Of 116 men they've counseled, one was later murdered, one was rehospitalized, and all the rest have found safety and some measure of success in reorienting their lives -- a far better rate than was the norm at that hospital before the program started. Their work is the subject of a new documentary series, "Life After The Gunshot."

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  • Can ‘Bystander Intervention Training' Stop Hate Crimes?

    April 04, 2021 |

    New York Magazine |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, New York, New York

    High-profile violence directed at Asian-Americans generated enormous interest in bystander intervention training. The most popular program in New York, a free online course from Hollaback!, teaches five approaches to intervening in a nonviolent incident, when someone is being harassed. Research has shown the method to be effective at interrupting an attack. Some critics see these methods as too short-term a solution, but other experts say they can helpfully make people more aware of threats to others and more able to respond in the moment, rather than freezing uncomfortably in the presence of a bias attack.

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