Justice Reform

Justice reform refers to efforts to improve and reform the criminal justice system. This can involve a range of measures, such as changing laws and policies, improving practices and procedures within the justice system, and increasing accountability and transparency. The goals of justice reform can vary, but often include reducing the rate of crime, increasing public safety, and ensuring that individuals who are charged with crimes are treated fairly and justly. Justice reform can be a complex and controversial issue, and may involve difficult decisions and trade-offs.

 

 

What’s at stake in the 2022 midterm election? Here’s everything to watch before Election Day.
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What’s at stake in the 2022 midterm election? Here’s everything to watch before Election Day.

Midterm elections: How they work and why they’re important This year’s midterms are the first chance for Americans to grade Joe Biden and congressional Democrats on how they’ve been running the country for the past two years. Typically midterms don’t go well for the party in power, and Democrats are defending razor-thin majorities in Congress, as one-third of…

Pieper Lewis: Other cases of sex trafficking victims convicted or penalized – CNN
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Pieper Lewis: Other cases of sex trafficking victims convicted or penalized – CNN

Pieper Lewis, who killed her alleged rapist in 2020, received a deferred judgment from Polk County District Judge David Porter after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and willful injury.  Lewis is just one of several teenagers — often of color — who have been legally penalized or convicted of killing their sex trafficker or assaulter…

The Perils and Promise of America’s Third Reconstruction
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The Perils and Promise of America’s Third Reconstruction

Credit – Illustration by Ajubel Studio for TIME W.E.B. Du Bois is perhaps best known for introducing the term “double consciousness” into the lexicon of the Black experience. The term described the duality of being a Black American—neither fully African nor completely American, an enduring “problem” to be fought over in times of war and…

Michigan laws on child marriage, corporal punishment earn an F from rights – EMEA Tribune
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Michigan laws on child marriage, corporal punishment earn an F from rights – EMEA Tribune

A scorecard released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch provides a damning assessment of how well Michigan protects the rights of children. The state earned an F grade because it allows child marriage; has not outlawed corporal punishment in private schools and homes, and lacks protections for children entering the juvenile justice system, among other issues….

Tarrant County 5 Stones Human Trafficking Coalition September 2022 Meeting
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Tarrant County 5 Stones Human Trafficking Coalition September 2022 Meeting

Here is our recorded meeting link and chat notes for our 5 Stones September 2022 meeting! Our 5 Stones meeting this September featured Brooke Istook, Vice President of Youth & Communities with Thorn – a tech non-profit dedicated to developing technology to defend children from sexual abuse.  She discussed the dangers of online predators and the importance of…

Some States Will Have Slavery On The Ballot This Midterm Election
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Some States Will Have Slavery On The Ballot This Midterm Election

In less than 60 days, voters in Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont will decide whether to abolish slavery. But it’s not exactly what you may think. The initiative on the ballot is a part of a larger criminal justice reform movement aimed at prison labor. In an attempt address the “loophole” in the 13th Amendment—which ended slavery…

The 5 states with ballot initiatives to abolish slavery in 2022
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The 5 states with ballot initiatives to abolish slavery in 2022

(Getty Images) Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio. It’s 2022, and five states have ballot initiatives to abolish slavery. Yes, you read that right. In the “land of the free,” the states of Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont have an opportunity to…

Appeals court says prohibition on involuntary servitude not applicable to prison labor
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Appeals court says prohibition on involuntary servitude not applicable to prison labor

Colorado voters who made slavery and involuntary servitude unconstitutional in 2018 did not mean to abolish the state Department of Corrections’ prison labor program, the Court of Appeals ruled last week. A three-judge panel for the appellate court turned away the constitutional challenge of inmate A. Mark Lamar, who argued the general requirement that prisoners…

‘Modern day slavery’: Lawmakers, advocates seek change after Republic prison labor investigation
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‘Modern day slavery’: Lawmakers, advocates seek change after Republic prison labor investigation

Reacting to an investigation by The Arizona Republic and KJZZ, lawmakers and advocates are calling for a review of the state’s use of prison labor. “Forced prison labor is nothing more than modern day slavery, and our state’s growing reliance on this workforce is irresponsible, immoral and inexcusable,” said state Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Glendale. “Any public…

A Philadelphia DHS office houses stranded kids, but staff warn it's unsafe
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A Philadelphia DHS office houses stranded kids, but staff warn it's unsafe

By the time a foster home was found for the 8-year-old boy, he refused to go. He’d been sleeping in a conference room at the Philadelphia Department of Human Services for two months, either on a folding cot or an air mattress on the floor. That bare-bones space is not meant for overnight stays. Yet,…