The #California ballot measure rolls back reforms made by an earlier ballot measure. My colleague wrote about #proposition36 and broader efforts to roll back #CriminalLegalSystem reforms: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/08/01/california-illinois-crime-public-safety-reform
I've been really interested in ballot measures in the 2024 U.S. general #election that could have big impacts on the #CriminalLegalSystem. I'm starting a thread of these, along with coverage of the initiatives.
#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #CriminalLegalSystem @blackmastodon Maybe if we viewed restoring our communities as a post-war effort, people could understand that tinkering with reform around the edges simply cannot work. If we want to be free, and I realize not everyone wants freedom, but for those who do, we really must give up relying on models infused with supremacy to find our solutions. Let us be bold and revolutionary. Here's the trailer for the doc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQaMgSqjbGY 5/5
#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #CriminalLegalSystem @blackmastodon When I returned to the US I saw a story in the Guardian that discussed the trauma informed healing/education that one group is using for girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram. The school doesn’t start with a fixed curriculum. It meets the girls where they are, works with the trauma, and by doing so opens the door for them to be educated. 4/5
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/feb/20/nigeria-borno-lafiya-sarari-school-psychological-support-girls-abducted-boko-haram
#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #CriminalLegalSystem @blackmastodon
Each and every one of the men in the film was on a journey of transformation, but most of them were to remain in prison. Listening to their stories reinforced for me that we have to free our children from the toxicity of white supremacy that removes persons who could be role models from our communities; that re-enforces to them in their schools, in their housing, in their neighborhoods that aren’t worthy of love. 3/5
#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #CriminalLegalSystem @blackmastodon The men shared two things: they were all in pain and traumatized in the environment where they were raised and growing up none of them believed their lives mattered. The dance therapy allowed them to heal themselves and see themselves, and others around them as humans worthy of being loved. At some point they realized they could touch each other while dancing without triggering any toxic masculinity. 2/5
#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #CriminalLegalSystem @blackmastodon While I was in Canada I popped into the Toronto Black Film Festival and yep, I found something that inspired an #abolition thread. They were screening a documentary film called “Dancing in A-Yard, which documented a dance program that was established for men in a California prison. Most of the men were serving long sentences, with a few lifers in the mix. Many of them were sent to prison while they were teenagers. 1/5
I report on the #CriminalLegalSystem, but before I was a journalist, much of what I learned about #incarceration was through #volunteering at a #prison #book program. A lot of the barriers getting books to incarcerated people that volunteers saw are reflected in this reporting: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/03/16/prison-banned-books-policies-what-we-know
Maybe of interest to criminal legal system researchers: https://www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/?fa=newsinfo.pressdetail&newsid=50064
Washington Courts: "Statewide Juvenile Arrest Data Available Through New Dashboard"
Sandra Hemme has spent more than 42 years in prison– if exonerated, her prison term would mark the longest known wrongful conviction of a woman in U.S. history. So proud of the lawyers on my team fighting for her at the #InnocenceProject
#innocence #WrongfulConviction #law
#lawfedi @law #CriminalJustice #CriminalLegalSystem #CriminalLegalReform
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/innocent-woman-confessed-to-missouri-murder-lawyers-say-was-the-real-killer-a-cop/ar-AA18mk8N
From criminal legal system involved to the statehouse--how two amazing RI legislators are making a difference: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/gma3/video/rhode-island-duo-criminal-past-elected-statehouse-96794256?cid=share_facebook_widget
#CriminalLegalSystem #JusticeReform #RhodeIsland #RI #WomenInPolitics
@Catawu @Popehat @SarahOestreich No doubt. There are folks all over the country and the world doing amazing work to free the innocent and reform the #CriminalLegalSystem. https://innocencenetwork.org/
One way to distinguish between the #CriminalJusticeSystem and the #CriminalLegalSystem is by considering how prosecutions might proceed in either case.
For the justice system, prosecutions find witnesses, execute warrants, build theories to prove the guilt of the perpetrator to a jury of their peers.
For the legal system, prosecutions don't have to do anything. The evidence of the "crime" is indisputable. The person the police arrested has a suspended license.
