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

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  • After Intake Pause, City's Supervised Release Program Set for Large Expansion

    August 05, 2020 |

    Gotham Gazette |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, New York, New York

    New York City's supervised release program stakes a middle ground in the debate over abolishing cash bail systems by paying outside agencies to monitor and help people released from jail while their criminal charges are pending. More equitable than requiring cash bail for release but more restrictive than simply releasing defendants with no oversight, the program in its first three years boasted an 88% rate for participants complying with court dates while 8% in early 2019 were arrested on new felony charges while freed. The program, on hold during the early pandemic months, is budgeted for a big expansion.

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  • Program offers alternative for youth who commit misdemeanors

    August 05, 2020 |

    Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

    Choose 180 channels Seattle-area young people into an alternative to court and jail when they commit relatively minor offenses. This "offramp" from the traditional justice system, serving a disproportionately Black and brown clientele, helped 400 clients in 2019, 87% of whom did not commit new offenses. Research shows such diversion programs have a better track record for preventing future crimes. A Choose 180 "sentence" comes in the form of a workshop introducing young people to mentors and giving them a chance at the stability and frame of mind they need to seek more lasting change in their lives.

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  • They Stopped Suspending Licenses ... And Fine Collections Went Up

    July 27, 2020 |

    The Community Voice |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

    When San Francisco courts stopped suspending drivers' licenses for failure to pay fees and fines, revenues actually increased. The reform, aimed at avoiding trapping poor people in endless cycles of debt and incarceration, was paired with affordable payment plans and alternatives to cash fines and fees as ways to hold people accountable for traffic violations. The rest of California, and eventually six other states and the District of Columbia, followed suit. The reforms have countered a trend that turned a traffic safety measure into a revenue generator for governments, on the backs of the poor.

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  • They Agreed to Meet Their Mother's Killer. Then Tragedy Struck Again.

    July 21, 2020 |

    The Marshall Project |

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    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Jacksonville, Florida

    Jacksonville’s prosecutor began a unique experiment in using restorative justice dialogue in murder cases, seeking to help survivors learn the full truth of a crime in ways a traditional trial would not provide. In return for an honest dialogue with the people they harmed, defendants could win more lenient sentences. But in one case the tactic failed in a way that added to the survivors’ pain and ended the program altogether. Restorative dialogue has been shown to help victims, mainly when used after a conviction or for less serious crimes.

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  • The long quest to stop a ‘Sugar Daddy' judge

    July 14, 2020 |

    Reuters |

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    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Arkansas

    Arkansas’ judicial oversight agency has the staffing and persistence to hold bad judges accountable in ways that counter a nationwide pattern of weak enforcement and judicial impunity. The Arkansas Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission has a staff that’s almost three times as large as the national per-judge average and it publicly disciplines judges more than twice the national rate. It is one of the few such agencies that will investigate anonymous complaints, frequently a barrier to starting judicial misconduct probes.

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  • Coronavirus concerns revive labor organizing

    June 18, 2020 |

    High Country News |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Washington

    Employees at 7 Yakima Valley fruit packing plants, who are predominately Latinx, went on strike to protest inadequate protection and pay during the Covid-19 pandemic. Agricultural workers accounted for nearly one-fifth of the county’s positive cases. The worker initiated strikes and picket lines were supported by community members, union representatives, and non-profit legal centers. Workers returned to work after gaining concessions on better pay, safety protections, and the formation of worker advocacy committees. The state also issued new workplace safety standards for agricultural workers after protests.

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  • How Bangor drug court participants are getting help staying sober during the pandemic

    June 16, 2020 |

    Bangor Daily News |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Bangor, Maine

    Bangor drug court in Maine has turned to the use of Zoom to keep in contact with program participants during the Covid-19 pandemic. Although meeting via video call can disguise some physical symptoms of drug use, this new process has so far seen success with all participants still enrolled and one even graduating from the program.

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  • Youth Are Flipping an Abandoned North Carolina Prison into a Sustainable Farm

    June 15, 2020 |

    Civil Eats |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Wagram, North Carolina

    A former North Carolina prison has been reclaimed by the nonprofit Growing Change to teach sustainable farming to youth who otherwise might be doomed to their own prison terms without an effective intervention. The 9-year-old program, while small, is meant to serve as a model for reusing many other shuttered prisons as the nation’s incarceration numbers fall. Boasting positive effects on recidivism, the program’s focus is the racially diverse youth of the rural, impoverished eastern part of the state – the same people who disproportionately get imprisoned.

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  • With Abuse Victims Trapped at Home, Detroit Moves Restraining Order System Online

    May 29, 2020 |

    The Trace |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Detroit, Michigan

    Domestic abuse risks are on the rise, at a time of social isolation, economic disruption, and gun-buying, and so Wayne County, Michigan, court officials responded to the closing of their courthouses by allowing people to seek orders of protection online. A replacement for an onerous, face-to-face process, the new e-filing system processed fewer applications in its first month than before the pandemic crisis, but at least preserved a steady flow of cases that enable victims to block their abusers from possessing guns. Victim advocates hope the new system expands access even after the courthouses reopen.

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  • Arrests decrease under diversion program

    May 28, 2020 |

    Las Vegas Optic |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Alamosa, Colorado

    Alamosa, Colorado has lowered its jail population and the number of felony cases and arrests, and has broken the cycle of repeat offending, by diverting people with drug problems from prosecution into treatment. The local version of a national program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) was modeled on one in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which worked best when people in the program maintained a close relationship with their case workers. One of many problems those relationships solved: the high number of missed court dates, which result in arrest warrants.

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