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

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 240 results  for your search.  View and Refine Your Search Terms

  • Operation Ceasefire: Inside a Community's Radical Approach to Gang Violence

    Operation Ceasefire, known as the “Boston miracle,” abandoned traditional policing’s responses to street violence, which caused severe racial tensions, and created a community coalition that used a carrot-and-stick model of targeting people at risk of suffering or committing violence, threatening them with punishment but offering instead social services if they put their guns down. After dramatically reducing violence in Boston in the early 1990s, it spread nationwide. But this highly targeted enforcement method can fail when it isn’t done by the book or sustained over a long period.

    Read More

  • 4 Black Female Judges Use Their Courtrooms to Break the School-to-Prison Pipeline

    Inspired by the documentary 13th, which explores race and mass incarceration in the U.S., and frustrated by the amount of youth getting caught in criminal court, four black female judges decided to create a youth prevention program. The four month program is called “Pipeline to Possibilities,” and accepts about a hundred students who get to experience mock trials, and meet with the judges.“Knowledge is power, and maybe if they knew more about the criminal justice system, they wouldn’t find themselves on that side of the bench.”

    Read More

  • Reform Activists and a New DA Find Common Ground

    In Texas' Harris County, the state's most populous county, a grassroots collective of criminal justice activists contributed to a political shift that led to reforms in prosecutions, jails, bail, and policing. Inspired by the movement sparked by the death of Michael Brown in Missouri in 2014, groups such as Houston Justice and the Texas Organizing Project backed the election of a reform-minded district attorney, who turned toward community collaboration and away from tough-on-crime solutions. The new DA, plus favorable court rulings and state laws, softened the country's rough-justice reputation.

    Read More

  • Can the Manufacturer of Tasers Provide the Answer to Police Abuse?

    Data suggests that when an officer is wearing a body camera the likelihood that they will shoot a person decreases by as much as 60 percent. Axon Enterprises, which originally made a fortune from selling taser guns to police departments, started investing in body cameras back in 2006. Now, they are the largest manufacturer “holding contracts with more than half the major police departments in the country.” The company believes this technology will bridge the gap between lethal force and safety.

    Read More

  • Keby sme boli Rómovia, z Británie by sme sa už nevrátili

    V ostrom kontraste s ich slovenskou vlasťou, Anglicko otvorilo svoju náruč rómskym prisťahovalcom a ponúklo im súbor opatrení, ktoré im majú pomôcť uspieť v ich novej krajine. Rómovia, ktorí sa stali obeťami rasizmu na oboch miestach, ale najmä medzi Slovákmi, dostávajú v Anglicku zdravotné poradenstvo a pomoc pri vzdelávaní, ktorých podstatou je inklúzia. Napríklad britská politika v oblasti školskej dochádzky zvýšila dochádzku rómskych detí o 30 percent a len málo z nich je posunutých do špeciálnych škôl.

    Read More

  • Community Policing Problems

    The Elgin, Illinois police department has been heralded as having the most successful community policing program in the country. There, officers are embedded within the communities they serve and are expected to create a synergy between police and communities. It has grown in popularity as law enforcement across the country come under scrutiny for being disconnected from the neighborhoods they’re supposed to serve. It bears questioning whether this form of policing can be a useful response, or if it’s just another form of surveillance that upholds power imbalances.

    Read More

  • How Nearly 2,000 Cameras Tamed a Notorious American Prison

    1,875 cameras and 915 microphones is what it took to change a culture of abuse in Attica State Prison, notoriously known as one of the worst places to serve time in amongst prisoners. Since the installation of the cameras, incident reports against corrections officers dropped 80 percent.

    Read More

  • Taking Aim at Gun Violence, With Personal Deterrence

    To decrease the amount of gun-related fatalities, cities are focusing on joint efforts with their communities and police departments to target those most at risk for shooting or being shot on the streets. Known nationally as Ceasefire, this initiative aims to identify the individuals from this selected target group - and open a dialogue about their options and the consequences of gun-related retaliation. Nationally, the program has had some trouble sustaining when the cities rely too much on the police department, but when it works, shooting have decreased dramatically.

    Read More

  • With Marijuana Now Legal, L.A. Goes Further to Make Amends for the War on Drugs

    After California legalized recreational use of marijuana, Los Angeles took the initiative even further to address the social and systemic inequity caused by the war on drugs of communities of color. The city undertook criminal justice reforms like clinics to help people expunge their records, and economic reforms like prioritizing those with past convictions to receive licenses to own and operate dispensaries. Furthermore, LA is practicing restorative justice by directing the tax revenue created by this sector back into the neighborhoods that were deeply affected in the past.

    Read More

  • Predicting Crime in Chicago

    What if a computer program could tell you who was at risk for shooting someone or being shot themselves? This is now a reality for Chicago Police Department. By piloting the use of this technology, and assembly a cohort of cops, social workers, ministers and moms to visit the names of those the computer names, the city has seen a decrease in violence over the last year.

    Read More