“Years ago, the all-white judges of a Louisiana appellate court decided, in secret, to systematically ignore petitions filed by prisoners, most of them Black, who claimed they had been unjustly convicted.” – ProPublica

“Years ago, the all-white judges of a Louisiana appellate court decided, in secret, to systematically ignore petitions filed by prisoners, most of them Black, who claimed they had been unjustly convicted.” – ProPublica

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“The rot from slavery and its aftermath are still with us, in a thousand different ways.”

“The rot from slavery and its aftermath are still with us, in a thousand different ways.”

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We must end the absurdity of the United States having more people in jail than any other country on Earth

We must end the absurdity of the United States having more people in jail than any other country on Earth

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#CJreform Tweets 12.11

#CJreform Tweets 12.11

#BlackLivesMatter Tweets 8.31

#BlackLivesMatter Tweets 8.31

Culture Shock: The Problem of Juvenile Justice

See on Scoop.itCommunity Village Daily

 

“The prison system as a whole isn’t working, particularly so for juvenile detention centers.

 

WHEN the Center for Investigative Reporting recently visited the Santa Cruz County Juvenile Hall — widely considered one of the best juvenile detention centers in the country — they found remarkably prison-like conditions, ranging from the bare, concrete walls to the use of solitary confinement as a method of disciplining youth. There are currently no federal or state laws that regulate the use of solitary confinement for juvenile offenders, despite overwhelming evidence of its harmful effects. But the abuses don’t stop there. A 2012 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, a division of the Department of Justice, determined that youth held in adult prison facilities suffered less instances of sexual violence than their peers in juvenile facilities. And in some facilities, the rate of juvenile recidivism is over 80 percent, meaning that the bulk of these young people will eventually add to the burgeoning prison population.

There seems to be a consensus that the prison system as a whole isn’t working, and this is particularly true when it comes to juvenile detention. The United States incarcerates more young people under the age of 18 than any other industrialized country in the world. (By comparison, South Africa, our closest competitor, incarcerates its youth at one-fifth the rate of the United States.) Most juveniles who are sent to these facilities are from racial minorities. Many of them suffer abuses in prison that are heinous for adults and potentially ruinous for youth — solitary confinement, rape, repeated physical abuse, deprivation of sunlight, insufficient food and affection. Perhaps worst of all, children leave these facilities with additional traumas under their belts and no promise that their outside lives will improve.

And yet, despite protestations from all political parties that our society values children, despite the proliferation of New York Times bestsellers on how to raise children, despite growing scientific evidence that the confinement of adolescents may profoundly stunt their brain development, despite the fact that juvenile crime is steadily declining, change has not followed. Why?

In her new book, Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison, Nell Bernstein, a journalist whose previous book addresses the problems of children of the incarcerated, attempts to explore this elusive question using a mix of reporting, research, and anecdotal history. Bernstein’s basic premise, which I agree with, is that it’s mostly a matter of culture, an elusive but necessary concept. She argues that young adults and children require positive relationships with adults in order to rehabilitate, but prison, which isolates and punishes violators for transgressions, is based on just the opposite assumption. Prisons assume that those who commit crimes must be isolated from the community, both to force them to think about their immoral acts and to protect the rest of the law-abiding community. This is the direct opposite of what we should be doing for children in prison: educating them, providing them life skills and positive role models, and supporting their mental and physical development in a positive way.

 

Click through to read more.

 
See on lareviewofbooks.org

There Are 400,000 Unprocessed Rape Kits in the U.S. How Can This Be?

Actress Mariska Hargitay is producing a documentary about America’s rape kit backlog.

 

“Nora Caplan-Bricker of the New Republic notes:

 

After New York City processed its 17,000-kit backlog in 2001, the arrest rate for rape cases jumped from 40 percent to 70 percent, reports Erin Delmore at MSNBC. In Ohio, going through 4,000 kits led to 58 cases, and in Detroit, where an 11,000-kit backlog remains, analyzing the first 10 percent of kits led law enforcement to 46 serial rapists.”

See on www.slate.com

Louisiana’s longest-serving death row prisoner walks free after 30 years

Glenn Ford, Louisiana’s longest-serving death row prisoner, walked free Tuesday after spending nearly 30 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit.

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

Don’t you love when people say the U.S. has the best criminal justice system?

See on www.cnn.com

Update On Howard Morgan

 

“This is a case where the jury acquitted Morgan on counts of firing a firearm and counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, but deadlocked on charges of attempted murder.  At the retrial, the judge denied the jury knowledge of the acquitted charges, and the second jury convicted Morgan of attempted murder.  His attorneys have argued double-jeopardy because it was only possible for the jury to convict upon finding that Morgan fired a gun — a charge in which he was acquitted.

 

Tomorrow, February 26, 2014, a rally recognizing 9 Years of injustice against Officer Howard Morgan is being held in Chicago.

 

Time: 12pm – 1pm
Location: James R. Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph, Chicago, IL

 

Hosted by: Attorney Benjamin Crump

 

The Free Howard Morgan Campaign has a website where it also provides a petition.

 

http://www.freehowardmorgan.com/

 

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

U.S. Police are shooting people as if they are in a war zone.

Howard Morgan was shot 28 times

See on blackbutterfly7.wordpress.com

The faces of the forgotten: Heartbreaking plight of the 64,000 black women missing across America… as the country turns a blind eye

Nearly 40 per cent of those who disappear, often in suspicious circumstances, are black. These missing women have not been found (pictured). However critics allege that media attention focuses on missing white women in the U.S.

See on www.dailymail.co.uk