Personalism — Social and Economic Issues — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Social and Economic Issues

Overcriminalization significantly undermines human flourishing and social well-being by harming the family, social networks, and social citizenship. Additionally, it prevents capable men and women from utilizing their creative capacities in the marketplace. This creates vast issues involving relations with family while incarcerated and reintegration into society after release. On the economic side, draconian cash bail systems undermine justice through basing someone's ability to attain pre-trial release upon their wealth, not their actual threat to society.

Posts in Personalism

What Happens When Prison 'Lifers' Get a Chance at Healing and Redemption?

“When Cruz was just 4 or 5, his father was murdered, leaving his mother to raise him and his three sisters. With few outlets to help him cope with his trauma, Cruz said he channeled his pain and anger into the “criminal gang mentality.” Gangs provided a semblance of camaraderie and social support, and they dealt with issues using violence, a language fluent to Cruz. When Cruz wanted something, he was taught to take it. He admitted he was irresponsible, impulsive, and selfish—not exactly unusual behavior for a teenager. But in his neighborhood, it happened to be much easier to get a gun than it was to get help.“

The Appeal

December 3, 2019

Re-entry, PersonalismPhillip ReevesDecember 3, 2019The Appeal, Restorative JusticeComment

The Laws of Forgiveness

“It can, for example, remove the disincentive on health professionals to apologize in the context of potential malpractice, by saying, “Look, anything you say is not going to be admitted into a malpractice case.” That’s not pressing the victim to forgive. It’s just making space. Another way in which the law can make space is by having restorative-justice conversations, so the victims and perpetrators can talk to each other and hear about what happened.“

The New Yorker

November 18, 2019

PersonalismPhillip ReevesNovember 18, 2019The New Yorker, When Should Law Forgive, Martha MinowComment

What I Think About When I Think About Freedom

“Doing time becomes so much harder when you know you are ready to go but are unable to leave. When I am not writing, I am mostly stuck in my head. Soul-crushing depression is a constant blow from within. The outer blows are the aerial assault-like noises in this place: Guards barking over the PA, men yelling up and down the tier, keys jingling, walkie talkies crackling, gates slamming. Your brain automatically tells you what’s to come next. A guard’s round, a cell search, chow run, med run, count clear. Anxiety squeezes my belly.“

The Marshall Project

November 13, 2019

PersonalismPhillip ReevesNovember 13, 2019The Marshall Project, John J LennonComment

1 single good encounter with a cop engenders a lot of trust, study finds

“The contemporary crisis of police legitimacy and public distrust poses a dire threat to public safety, and experts have called for increased investment in “community-oriented policing (COP).” This strategy, born in the tumult of the Civil Rights era, is based on a longstanding assumption: positive, non-enforcement interactions between police and the public can help build relationships. But decades and hundreds of millions of dollars later, the hope that a single interaction can help build trust has been little more than a well-intentioned assumption held by the public, politicians, and police“

New Jersey Star-Ledger

September 29, 2019

PersonalismPhillip ReevesSeptember 29, 2019New Jersey Star LedgerComment

Is True Crime Over?

“I have felt for a while now that the modern true-crime craze has passed its prime. Obviously, people have always been interested in crime and will continue to be, but as for the most recent murder media wave — beginning with Serial and Making a Murderer and exploding from there — I, at least, am over it. Most of the new podcasts coming out are hurried facsimiles of earlier successes, and how many times can the Ted Bundy story possibly be told?“

The Cut

August 19, 2019

PersonalismPhillip ReevesAugust 19, 2019The Cut, True crimeComment

Painting a distorted picture of crime 'spikes' in New York City

“But Watkins’s coverage moves the goal posts and relies heavily on simplistic police narratives. She first reports on an increase in homicides in Brooklyn, but when those decrease, she narrows in on murders in North Brooklyn. When those also go down, the reporting zooms in on two precincts—all while letting pro-police voices drive the narrative that there’s a worrying “spike” in crime. These articles are a study in how not to report on crime, given that such reporting will most likely influence how authorities police Black and Latinx neighborhoods.“

The Appeal

August 16, 2019

PersonalismPhillip ReevesAugust 16, 2019The Appeal, New York City, New York TimesComment

Sensationalist Tale of an Elderly Killer Feeds False Narrative

“The public’s perception of crime is often significantly out of alignment with the reality. This is caused, in part, by frequently sensationalist, decontextualized media coverage. Media Frame seeks to critique journalism on issues of policing and prisons, challenge the standard media formulas for crime coverage, and push media to radically rethink how they inform the public on matters of public safety.“

The Appeal

August 9, 2019

PersonalismPhillip ReevesAugust 9, 2019The Appeal, New York TimesComment

Are Voters Ready to Move on From Willie Horton?

“The back-and-forth between candidates, 15 months before the 2020 presidential election, would have been unthinkable in the Democratic debates of 1988 or 1996 or 2004 or even 2012. Unthinkable for fear that a Republican president or presidential candidate would immediately pounce on these reform ideas as being "soft on crime," and thus dangerous and unpresidential. George Bush, the elder, used Willie Horton in 1988 to successfully stir up white fear of crime about his opponent, Michael Dukakis. Donald Trump has used “American carnage” and unfounded fear of the link between immigrants and crime as a primal theme.“

The Marshall Project

August 2, 2019

Mass Incarceration, PersonalismPhillip ReevesAugust 2, 2019The Marshall Project, Willie HortonComment

Media Frame: 5 Common Tactics Used to Discredit Reform D.A.s

“As with all progressive change, however, these reforms are being met with a backlash. A recent spate of articles and opinion pieces—relying heavily on police and pro-police sources—are using tired tropes to attack reform DAs and their records. Here are five of the most common tactics, and why they don’t hold up under scrutiny.“

The Appeal

July 19, 2019

PersonalismPhillip ReevesJuly 19, 2019The AppealComment

Maryland should release more elderly inmates

“Having elderly people sitting in prison does no one much good. They tend to have more health problems and be costlier than younger inmates. People commit less crime as they get older, so keeping those of enhanced age incarcerated is doing little from a public safety standpoint either. You could release an older prisoner and almost guarantee they would not go out and steal a car or rob someone.“

Baltimore Sun

July 18, 2019

PersonalismPhillip ReevesJuly 18, 2019MarylandComment

Aggression Detectors: The Unproven, Invasive Surveillance Technology Schools Are Using to Monitor Students

“Yet ProPublica’s analysis, as well as the experiences of some U.S. schools and hospitals that have used Sound Intelligence’s aggression detector, suggest that it can be less than reliable. At the heart of the device is what the company calls a machine learning algorithm. Our research found that it tends to equate aggression with rough, strained noises in a relatively high pitch, like D’Anna’s coughing.“

ProPublica

June 25, 2019

Education, PersonalismPhillip ReevesJune 25, 2019ProPublicaComment

Should We Be Afraid of AI in the Criminal-Justice System?

“But algorithms also play a quiet and often devastating role in almost every element of the criminal-justice system—from policing and bail to sentencing and parole. By turning to computers, many states and cities are putting Americans’ fates in the hands of algorithms that may be nothing more than mathematical expressions of underlying bias.“

The Atlantic

June 20, 2019

Bail Reform, PersonalismPhillip ReevesJune 20, 2019The Atlantic, AlgorithmsComment

Is the Show ‘Cops’ Committing Crimes Itself?

“The podcast I host is the product of an 18-month investigation by me and my producers. What we found is that “Cops” is edited far more problematically than it lets on, that it consistently presents excessive force as good policing and that its structural reinforcement of racial stereotypes about criminality raises questions about the ethics of continuing to let the show remain on the air.“

New York Times

June 18, 2019

PersonalismPhillip ReevesJune 18, 2019New York Times, CopsComment

Media Frame: Using Gun Fears to Demagogue Bail Reform

“As the movement to reform cash bail—a practice that experts say disproportionately punishes poor people and people of color—gains steam throughout the country, local media continues to rely on fearmongering police narratives in lieu of evidence and nuance. One recent example, CBS 2 Chicago’s report on police fears of bond reform, serves as a useful case study in how this misinformation spreads uncritically. “

June 14, 2019

The Appeal

PersonalismPhillip ReevesJune 14, 2019The Appeal, ChicagoComment

Spotlight: Prosecuting Lifesavers Exposes Deep Problems with Laws and their Enforcement

“Warren is pointing out that unjust laws are only half the problem. Unjust laws on the books are nothing new. For them to do the most harm, they must be enforced as such. Warren notes that smuggling and harboring laws ‘have always been applied selectively: with aggressive prosecutions of ‘criminal’ networks but leniency for big agriculture and other politically powerful industries that employ scores of undocumented laborers’.“

The Appeal

June 11, 2019

Personalism, OvercriminalizationPhillip ReevesJune 11, 2019The AppealComment

This grandfather was granted parole in 2018. Why is he still in prison?

“That’s because there’s virtually nowhere he’s allowed to live. Under the New York State Sexual Assault Reform Act (SARA), people who are on parole or other types of community supervision for certain sex crimes can’t live within 1,000 feet of a school. Until the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) approves a SARA-compliant home, Zada will remain in prison. “

The Appeal

May 17, 2019

PersonalismPhillip ReevesMay 17, 2019The Appeal, New YorkComment

What I Learned When I Googled My Students’ Crimes

“Leaving the prison that day, I wondered what the men in my class were “usually” like. I knew that I was afforded only a narrow glimpse into their experiences, and I wondered if I knew more of their history if I would still view them the same way. So I decided to try an experiment. As a general rule, in my years of working with the incarcerated, I have never looked up the convictions of the men in my classes: I wanted to see each person as he is and could be, not reduced to his past actions. But now, I decided to do just the opposite: look up the crimes and media coverage of every single one of my students.“

The Marshall Project

May 2, 2019

Personalism, Prison ProgramsPhillip ReevesMay 2, 2019The Marshall ProjectComment