Many issues that are primary drivers of mass incarceration cannot be remedied through government solutions alone. Issues such as broken families and mental health, both forever altered by over criminalization, cannot be simply be repaired through legislation. Civil Society has the unique capability to address certain social issues that government cannot, or to address them more effectively than government can. This section also addresses issues in which over-policing attempts to fix issues that should be handled through the community.
“The résumé that won John Koufos his job as national director of re-entry initiatives for Right on Crime, a project aimed at winning support from conservatives for criminal justice reforms, is one few would want. Before he landed on the radar of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the think tank behind the project, he was an ex-convict who had been disbarred from practicing criminal law in New Jersey, his home state.“
New York Times
November 13, 2019
Read More“"We never speak in terms of fathers, grandfathers, grandmothers, mothers," the rapper said. "We never speak in a family sense and I think everyone seems more focused on stats and numbers. If people just thought about it and spoke about it more in a family sense maybe the sensitivity and the compassion would come back to the issue."“
ABC News
September 4, 2019
Read More“Women’s incarceration has grown at twice the pace of men’s incarceration in recent decades, and has disproportionately been located in local jails. The explanation for exactly what happened, when, and why does not yet exist because the data on women has long been obscured by the larger scale of men’s incarceration.“
Prison Policy Initiative
November 13, 2018
Read More“In 2005, the World Health Organization dubbed Glasgow the “murder capital of Europe.” There had been 83 homicides the previous year in the Glasgow region, where gangs were known for their booze-and-blades culture. Exasperated police in Glasgow decided to rethink strategy. They set up a violence reduction unit (VRU) guided by the philosophy that violence is like a public health issue: Violent behavior spreads from person to person. To contain it, you need to think in terms of transmission and risk, symptoms and causes.“
Washington Post
October 27, 2018
Read More“The goal of criminal justice should not be any particular level of incarceration, high or low, but rather fair, consistent and effective enforcement focused on the most repugnant and most socially destabilizing crimes. We’re not there yet, but compared with the recent past, we are doing better.“
Washington Post
October 22, 2018
Read More“So many of America’s troubles are intractable. Hyper-partisanship and the culture wars can make reducing gun violence or obesity seem hopeless. But mass incarceration is different. There is ample evidence that America’s states can lock fewer people up and still preserve public safety. Just look at Minnesota, which bangs up people at half the rate of neighbouring Wisconsin, though the crime rate in both places is about the same.“
The Economist
October 20, 2018
Read More“Changing the institutional culture of incarceration could entail a social consensus that locking people up is never the ideal way to resolve social problems.“
The Nation
October 16, 2018
Read More“Sadly, the list goes on. Seventy-five percent of North Carolina’s death row inmates were tried before all these reforms and would face radically different prosecutions today. Almost none would get the death penalty. For some, the charges would be dropped.“
Raleigh News & Observer
October 11, 2018
Read More“What does incarceration do for the member of a family that views prison as a rite of passage? A New York Times reporter takes a close look at intergenerational criminality.“
Longreads
October 10, 2018
Read More“‘What I did was wrong and I’m deeply sorry for being responsible for the death of another person,” Perkins wrote. ‘I was a kid and I did not know anything about the importance of another person’s life, nor was I a responsible individual. But Sir, I want you to know that I am someone that can be a productive citizen.’”
The Advocate
October 8, 2018
Read More‘‘The latest round of data from the FBI clearly shows that we continue to live in a period of safety that is unprecedented within many of our lifetimes (the last time we saw crime rates this low was in 1967).“
Vera Institute
September 24, 2018
Read More“We would be enraged and filing class action malpractice suits if the medical community operated hospital emergency departments like we administer criminal justice. Imagine walking into an emergency room where everyone got the same, uninformed diagnosis, and in turn the same treatment. A reasonable person would expert poor outcomes from such policies. That is precisely what we get in the criminal justice system, with tremendous social and financial cost.“
Psychology Today
September 11, 2018
Read More"Historically, the number of pardons issued by Georgia has been relatively generous. The 3,449 pardons granted in Georgia since 2013 forgave over 7,000 offenses. But as the board has come under scrutiny for its seemingly unchecked power, the number of pardons granted has declined. About 571 or roughly 13 percent of the more than 4,000 applications that were considered by the board were denied by a vote since 2013."
Atlanta Journal Constitution
August 24, 2018
Read More"It’s the way that inmates are being treated. As warden of five different correctional facilities, I always told my staff that inmates are incarcerated as punishment, not for punishment. That’s where correctional administration, correctional staff miss the mark at times. "
The Marshall Project
August 22, 2018
Read More"We need not only the change that comes with prison reform but a change in fundamental correctional beliefs. The stigma of prison remains after an offender serves their debt to society and needs to be seen as a debt fulfilled. Presently, we are like a lender that demands payment even after the debt is paid in full. That must change and change quickly if we are to embrace real reform."
Right on Crime
August 22, 2018
Read More"None of the demands, taken individually, is new to the criminal justice movement. Many organizations, including the ACLU, have fought against the rise of mass incarceration and the horrendous conditions of American prisons. Yet this may be the first occasion in which incarcerated leaders have coordinated nationally to list their specific policy agenda to end the system that has imprisoned them."
Detroit News
August 22, 2018
Read More"Releasing people from prison early is particularly risky when it comes to violent offenders. Most of the conversation around clemency – and enthusiasm for it – tends to focus on non-violent offenders, in particular people who are still in prison due to the inequitable, and racist, 100-1 crack-versus-cocaine sentencing disparities handed out during the heyday of the US 'war on drugs'."
The Guardian
August 21, 2018
Read More"As the country’s participation in formalized religion decreases, the essential messages that churches convey about forgiveness and redemption are lost in favor of starker views of good and evil — ones that spell trouble for advocates of criminal justice reform."
Washington Post
August 20, 2018
Read More"'No kid is seeking anything when they join a gang,' says Father Gregory Boyle, founder and director of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention and -reintegration organization in the country. 'Every kid is fleeing from something when they join a gang'."
The Nation
August 20, 2018
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