tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56013200080760811712024-03-05T11:06:06.785-05:00Re-thinking ReentryHow a coalition of stakeholders is reducing recidivism and enhancing public safety in Upper ManhattanAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comBlogger456125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-27636637412722827822016-08-23T13:38:00.005-04:002016-08-23T13:42:00.893-04:00From Justice Involved to Creating Food Justice in Harlem <br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Recently, our newest cohort of Harlem Justice Corps Members began their service term. The Justice Corps is part of a larger initiative support by the </span><a href="http://www1.nyc.gov/site/ymi/index.page" style="font-size: x-large;">New York City Young Men's Initiative</a><span style="font-size: large;"> and the </span><a href="http://johnjaypri.org/" style="font-size: x-large;">Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College</a><span style="font-size: large;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Harlem Justice Corps is a bridge program helping justice-involved youth 18 to 24 to connect to further vocational training, employment and educational advancement. It does this through soft skills training, youth development activities and civic engagement. Each corps member is provided a life coach and develops a plan for their future. They receive a small stipend for their work over the first three months (intensive phase) and can continue to receive coaching and support for nine months after they graduate. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Central to the work of the Corps is the community benefit service project. Corps Members focus on a local issue and work with staff and community partners to develop a service project in response. The Community Advisory Board must sign-off on the project. For the first time we recorded the presentation made by the corps members to the Board. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><iframe height="480" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B87bSpAN0MpROEl0MkN0cnZ6c2c/preview" width="640"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">These young men and women who only knew each other for a few weeks during recruitment and orientation had to work together to develop their presentation. Their project, a partnership with </span><a href="http://www.harlemgrown.org/" style="font-size: x-large;">Harlem Grown </a><span style="font-size: large;">an innovative urban farming and youth development program, is tackling the issue of healthy food in Harlem. The members researched the issue. In doing so they developed a nuisance understanding of food in a community with high levels of poverty and a lack of healthy food options.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The corps members are on parole, probation or may have been arrested in the last six months. But that is not the whole story. They are also, like any young adult, seeking to forge their own path in a complex world. For men of color in Harlem the path to adulthood is a challenging one. For example, a 2010 report by the </span><a href="http://www.cssny.org/news/entry/only-1-in-4-young-black-men-in-new-york-city-has-a-job" style="font-size: x-large;">Community Service Society</a><span style="font-size: large;"> exploring the effects of the recession on the labor market found that 33.5% of black males in New York City ages 16 to 24 were unemployed, and that only 1 in 10 black males without a high school diploma had a job. The rates are higher in parts of Harlem where large number of youth of color also have criminal histories and are subject to higher levels of employment discrimination. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Corps offers a second chance to Harlem youth. By putting these young leaders to work in their community we are sowing seeds to end the school to prison pipeline. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">To get involve and support the Corps' work in Harlem please email </span><a href="mailto:kbutler1@nycourts.gov" style="font-size: x-large;">Kareem Butler</a><span style="font-size: large;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">You may also visit the Center for Court Innovation's donations page</span><a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/donate" style="font-size: x-large;"> here</a><span style="font-size: large;">.</span><br />
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<i>By Christopher Watler, Project Director, Harlem Community Justice Center</i><br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-24295566521137408462016-07-26T12:50:00.003-04:002016-07-26T14:19:37.710-04:00Congratulations Raising My Voice Graduates! <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6pFCfnt1DjVyg0vcahg6XBYsLbB6ZXdTL7FBnMe9A4nVW1zb4x_4NsiCGK1HWb-4rWmpFQZqiG3Nvf_JWoPaSl7URh-37gtqZY2s0Wp1SS-9uCNTvyNcFKiZ8nmL-HRbnb8kq9o0c3_d/s1600/20160725_191730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6pFCfnt1DjVyg0vcahg6XBYsLbB6ZXdTL7FBnMe9A4nVW1zb4x_4NsiCGK1HWb-4rWmpFQZqiG3Nvf_JWoPaSl7URh-37gtqZY2s0Wp1SS-9uCNTvyNcFKiZ8nmL-HRbnb8kq9o0c3_d/s320/20160725_191730.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graduates with Linda Steele (left), Strategic Coordinator for <br />
Circle of Support & Raising My Voice lead trainer.</td></tr>
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Last night while it was stormy outside, there was a storm of
love inside the <a href="http://heavenlyrest.org/" target="_blank">Church of the Heavenly Rest</a>. For the past twelve weeks a group
of formerly incarcerated persons, supported by volunteers from the Church, participated
in a presentation skills training called Raising My Voice. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Raising My Voice was started to provide an avenue for formerly
incarcerated persons to learn effective presentation skills that allow them to
share their stories with a broad audience. The idea grew out of an experience I
had in 2009 when I took some men from our reentry program to speak at a local
middle school to kids who were truant and getting in trouble (one child was on
probation and had an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet). The men spoke
honestly about their prison experience. They also expressed a deep desire to do
more to make sure young people from their community did go to prison as they
had. Eventually a recommendation for a speaker’s bureau made it into a ground
breaking <a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/sites/default/files/UMRTF_Strategic_Plan.pdf" target="_blank">Upper Manhattan Reentry Strategic Plan</a>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In 2011, the J.C Flowers Foundation funded a new effort in
Harlem, <a href="http://www.jcflowersfoundation.org/circles-of-support.html" target="_blank">Circles of Support</a>, that brings the faith community and families of the
incarcerated together to support men and women leaving prison. We piloted Raising
My Voice in 2014. Since that time three cohorts of trainees have participated. Graduates
learn critical story telling skills and the program connects them to paid
speaking opportunities. In 2015, $2700 in speaking fees were earned by
graduates of the program. The most recent class was hosted at the Church of the
Heavenly Rest. The Church provided free space and volunteers to serve as
mentors to the trainees. Last night's graduation highlighted not just
the skills of the newly minted public speakers, but also the deep commitment and
new relationships that evolved between graduates and their faith-based mentors.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graduates and their Mentors!</td></tr>
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<i>By Christopher Watler,
Project Director, Harlem Community Justice Center<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-26708577306117500452016-07-07T12:20:00.000-04:002016-07-07T18:57:51.120-04:00Growing with Justice Plus: Eight Young Adults Graduate!<div class="MsoNormal">
A
lush oasis in the middle of Harlem’s urban landscape, <a href="http://www.harlemgrown.org/" target="_blank">Harlem Grown</a> is a
community farm that provides a unique respite for children and adults in the
neighborhood. This was certainly the case for friends and family of our eight Justice
Plus graduates, who celebrated their successful completion of the Harlem Community Justice Center program on
June 30, 2016.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Justice
Plus is a collaboration between the Harlem Community Justice Center, the
Department of Probation, and <a href="http://www.sossouthbronx.org/" target="_blank">Save Our Streets</a>. The program helps young adults
from the area ages 16-24 build crucial work-readiness skills. Participants
receive consistent mentorship and job-counseling from Jessica Bachman, our
workforce development coordinator, as well as an opportunity to volunteer with Harlem
Grown and receive a stipend. They graduate with work experience, references
grounded in strong relationships, and hours of resume building and interview
coaching; but most importantly, they build a positive association with the
workforce through their work with Harlem Grown.</div>
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The
graduation ceremony was a testament to the graduates’ hard work and immense
progress. Mixed with the farm’s beautiful trees and tomato plants were
perfectly constructed vegetable beds, wooden compost bins, that the Justice
Plus graduates built. Jessica Bachman personalized speeches about each graduate’s
individual challenges, successes, and growth made it obvious how much each
participant had accomplished during the program, and the words that graduates
shared upon receiving their diplomas celebrated Justice Plus for helping them
make positive change in their lives.</div>
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“It
feels good to wake up and feel successful,” declared Eugene, who received the
Overall Achievement Award for his outstanding achievements during the program.
Many other graduates echoed his sentiment, praising Justice Plus and Harlem
Grown for providing help, guidance, and an opportunity to create and work
towards new goals. “I have never received a certificate for anything before,”
exclaimed Norberto as he proudly held up his new diploma.<br />
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Eugene,
will be continuing as an employee at Harlem Grown. Other graduates
announced successful job placements and certifications, as the Justice Plus team
and the graduates’ guests beamed proudly from the audience. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Written by Tayla Nevins, Harlem Community Justice Center Intern. </div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-74551956322817991352016-06-29T11:31:00.004-04:002016-06-29T11:34:33.093-04:00"Getting Snatched Back": The Fight for Expungement Laws in NY <div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sponsored by Assemblywoman Annette Robinson, and hosted by
the Community Service Society, a Reentry Roundtable on June 22, 2016 focused on
the expungement of criminal records in New York State. The rich discussion at
this roundtable emphasized the urgency of creating laws that allow formerly
incarcerated people in New York State a second chance at a full life.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFoCRcs2ePqdsLos8BGZ5MFy0WkKgJTsDOIvhDWeldwk0OnO9qy7vnlDoxf1RYlNG7BAlUdocXBKcGJ_WVYO9XIMbJmimxLFvEH_LkdBH1tuYgzd55RMhLgUZUmS8lV8rG_IicCRnrsttI/s1600/th5OUEZ9TE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFoCRcs2ePqdsLos8BGZ5MFy0WkKgJTsDOIvhDWeldwk0OnO9qy7vnlDoxf1RYlNG7BAlUdocXBKcGJ_WVYO9XIMbJmimxLFvEH_LkdBH1tuYgzd55RMhLgUZUmS8lV8rG_IicCRnrsttI/s200/th5OUEZ9TE.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The conference kicked off with a welcoming speech by
Assemblywoman Robinson who emphasized the importance of expungement. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to the Community Service Society, expungement
is a “legal process that removes all records about one’s criminal changes from
both public records, and from law enforcement agency records” as well. In New
York City, there is no expungement, so once a person has a criminal conviction in
New York there will always be a record of it no matter how long ago the
conviction occured. In 2015 a bill for the expungement of records passed
through the majority liberal New York State Assembly, but was not passed
through the New York State Senate, with a more conservative majority. Expungement
laws, however, have been passed in Massachusetts, California, Rhode Island, and
Washington. For instance, in Massachusetts, under the new law known as “CORI
Reform” misdemeanors, felonies, and certain sex offenses can be sealed after a
period of time of law abiding conduct. As a result, his or her past criminal
record does not have to be reported in job interviews.</span></div>
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New York, there have been some attempts at creating opportunities for those
with criminal records. For example, the New York City Fair Act, that states
that employers must delay questions about one’s criminal record until after a
job offer is made. The Community Service Society explained that “in the end
employers, colleges, licensing agencies and landlords all make adverse
decisions against people with backgrounds based on stereotypes, media hype, and
simple prejudice”. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">CEO of Community Service Society,
David Jones, stressed that the fight for expungement, is <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="mso-comment-date: 20160624T1345; mso-comment-done: yes; mso-comment-reference: DB_1;"></a><span style="mso-comment-continuation: 1;">“our duty.” </span>He claimed
that “1 and 3 men” in New York have a criminal record, and as a consequence, many
of their rights are denied for much of their lives. This mark, which follows
them for their lifetime, inhibits their ability to work, stay out of jail and
prison, and participate as fathers, sons, and community members. </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Afie Turner,
Employment Specialist at STRIVE, shared her story about the struggles she faces
having a criminal record for a crime that she committed over 30 years ago. She commented<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that she is a different woman than the 17-year
old who committed the crime. She now is completing a degree in college and is
employed. But despite this change in character, she is still barred from some
opportunities because of her past record. For instance, realizing that she is
unable to have children of her own, she faces the difficult reality that her
criminal record prevents her from adopting a child and starting a family. She
says that she feels like a dog on a leash, that constantly gets “snatched back”
by New York State for her past, and stresses the need for a second chance for
people just like her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Similarly, Barry Campbell, Special
Assistant to the President of Fortune Society, claims a criminal records
“destroys a person’s livelihood”, and says that laws that prevent the sealing
of a criminal record, overlook the “humanity [and] the human consequences of the
persons” they affect. “Marches are not enough, you have to go up to elected
officials” and stand up against these injustices, Campbell claims. </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The powerful discussion raised my
awareness about expungement laws in New York. The denial of the opportunity to
expunge certain records holds a large number of individuals back from the
rights of citizenship. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now is the time
for change, and as suggested by the workshop, it is up to us to be the
advocates for it.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By
Tylor-Maria Johnson Harlem Community Justice Center Summer Intern/Princeton University
Student</span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-7798668950458018812016-06-22T12:51:00.001-04:002016-06-22T12:57:09.628-04:00Neighborhood Stat Meeting for Queens and Staten Island<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">On June 8, 2016, representatives from
the Harlem Community Justice Center attended the action-packed annual
“NeighborhoodStat” meeting hosted at 1 Police Plaza, hosted by Elizabeth Glazer,
the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, and Amy Sananman,
Executive Director of the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">MAP is a new collaborative effort to
reduce violence in public housing developments with high rates of violent crime.
MAP’s goals are to “reduce violent crime, reduce victimization, help residents
feel safer, and learn how to reduce crime in other neighborhoods and housing
developments citywide.” There are annual meetings to discuss the MAP
developments in each borough. This meeting focused on two particular
developments—the Stapleton development in Staten Island and Queensbridge
development in Queens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">After opening statements, the NYPD
officers from Stapleton’s neighborhood presented crime data and explained
strategies to decrease misbehavior and engage with the Stapleton community in
positive ways. Next the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) property
managers for Stapleton presented on quality-of-life improvement efforts at Stapleton,
explaining where the police were helpful and where they felt more attention was
necessary. Finally, Stapleton RA President Ms. Geraldine Parker took the floor and
called for more cooperation between the MAP partners. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Ms. April Simpson, the Resident Association
President of Queensbridge development delivered a moving account of life in
Queensbridge. She praised the NYPD officers and NYCHA managers who work there,
but exclaimed that more needed to be done. She called for more police officers,
more attention to troublesome dogs on the property, and for access to jobs for Queensbridge
residents. She highlighted the progress made, but stressed that much remains to
be done to address violence and the quality-of-life concerns of residents.
“Help me, help me,” she pleaded to the room at the conclusion of her speech. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">After the presentations each development
went to work in smaller groups with their local police, NYCHA representatives and
community based organizations. They discussed next steps and assignments. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">This NeighborhoodStat meeting was a reassuring
example of how government officials and community partners can use data to
support effective collaborations that improve public safety. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>By Talya Nevins, Harlem Community Justice Center Summer Intern/Princeton University Student</i></span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-64551248622288390242016-05-23T15:40:00.003-04:002016-06-22T11:47:02.102-04:00"I Don't Want Pity, I Want Results"<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;">
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<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3467292981415693495" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 490px;">
The New York Times has published a sobering account of mass shootings in America. It is a must read for those of us working to reduce violence across the country and those of us who need to understand the topic in more granular detail. According to the article, entitled <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/23/us/americas-overlooked-gun-violence.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">"A Drumbeat of Multiple Shootings, But America Isn't Listening," </a> shootings involving four or more victims occur each day in America on average. Yet, the 462 persons who died as a result of these shootings is only a fraction of the 11,000 killed by gun fire each year and rarely get noticed.<br />
<br />
The title of this post is a quote from the daughter of a 56 year-old African-American man was shot and killed as a bystander in a feud between rivals. It speaks to the critical need for law enforcement and communities to work together to eliminate the scourge of gun violence and bring perpetrators of gun violence to account. The authors highlight that only half of the mass shootings they examined resulted in an arrest or conviction. A shockingly low clearance rate.<br />
<br />
There is also the need for honest dialogue and action in communities where shootings are occurring at higher rates. In the African-American where, as the article highlights, half of all gun violence victims and attackers reside the need to confront the problem of gun violence is urgent. In New York City there are several efforts focused on reducing violence that show some promise. Two examples are the <a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/topic/violence-prevention" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Save Our Streets</a> programs run by our sister projects in the South Bronx and Central Brooklyn. Recently the New York City Mayor's Office launched a new initiative focused on making the city's pubic housing developments with the most violence safer. Public housing residents in these developments experience more violence and shootings than the rest of the city. A stubborn disparity that has persisted even as overall crime has dropped to historic lows in New York since the mid-1990s.While in the early stages, the<a href="http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/336-14/fact-sheet-making-new-york-city-s-neighborhoods-housing-developments-safer#/0" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;"> Mayor's Action Plan</a> (MAP) is using data and collaboration in ways that research suggest can reduce violence and improve perceptions of safety in a community. Through targeted law enforcement, environmental design changes and improved maintenance and by building local collaborations with tenant leaders, local organizations and the police MAP seeks to drive down violence and shootings in public housing.<br />
<br />
As we rightly debate the policies of mass incarceration and the terrible consequences of America's legacy of racism and indifference to communities of color, we must also keep in mind that community members, especially victims of crime, want results. They want both justice that is fair and justice that is effective. We can and must do more to end the senseless and preventable deaths and injuries that result from gun violence in America.<br />
<br />
<i>By Christopher Watler, Project Director- Harlem Community Justice Center</i></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-54877272021448902682016-05-06T16:00:00.001-04:002016-05-06T16:02:03.417-04:00Multi-State Gathering of Faith Leaders Addresses Prison Reentry <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizWMrheq7ySNahlNViXRWIjVe9a5zYl5_a2pjdWOtrgD22dmsnt5rYujs3tKxxM5RBJT0cJDXfiefczCAJcrM7dVeqZYttIuS9LqeT5yApKPbjKQrFixoPuB0U3y53BKPn1Bx93Z7HoCd1/s1600/20160506_145518.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizWMrheq7ySNahlNViXRWIjVe9a5zYl5_a2pjdWOtrgD22dmsnt5rYujs3tKxxM5RBJT0cJDXfiefczCAJcrM7dVeqZYttIuS9LqeT5yApKPbjKQrFixoPuB0U3y53BKPn1Bx93Z7HoCd1/s320/20160506_145518.jpg" width="320" /></a>The <a href="http://synodne.org/save-the-date-8-state-prison-re-entry-conference/" target="_blank">8 State Prison Ministry Network</a> kicked off its first conference exploring mass incarceration and reentry issues May 6-7, 2016. The gathering has drawn faith leaders and practitioners from New England and Mid-Atlantic states. The conference is focused on the trauma of incarceration and the impact of incarceration on jobs, housing and family. The conference seeks to support faith leaders who are committed to prison ministry and effective reentry.<br />
<br />
The first panel focused on the stories of men and women who have experienced prison. Presenters spoke about their experience in prison and leaving prison. One presenter who spend over 15 years in prison described how his parole was awarded and then revoked because his release coincided with a politically charged debate about prison reform. When eventually eligible for parole no programs wanted him. A local pastor who ran a program for persons leaving prison took him in and has continued to support his reentry.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimERvb5NFQIw65p6HiShylkcNRW8RUa5X2X1pT_qRq7UCSMJS4oP-Yq6ab4-zm6FVOH1ykWGiD9yMFSb2t9wD0geg5yBjZt9-slzeL_WmvAPkTwdmcN0OgO-yLZiqVML3xmOlOj9lZ-vdt/s1600/20160506_154822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimERvb5NFQIw65p6HiShylkcNRW8RUa5X2X1pT_qRq7UCSMJS4oP-Yq6ab4-zm6FVOH1ykWGiD9yMFSb2t9wD0geg5yBjZt9-slzeL_WmvAPkTwdmcN0OgO-yLZiqVML3xmOlOj9lZ-vdt/s320/20160506_154822.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The second panel includes the family members of persons who are incarcerated. One presenter spoke of the shame and stigma associated with being a Latina and having a brother in prison. She spoke of the incredible support she had her mother, who passed five years ago, have provided to her brother. "He is coming home soon and he is going to live with me," she said. She ended her presentation by declaring "she is her brother's advocate." A second presenter described how her husband went to prison in New York State for 20 years for stealing $18. This left her and their one year own son on their own. She would eventual go on to start a program to devoted to prison families -<a href="http://prisonministry.net/PFNY" target="_blank">-Prison Families of New York.</a><br />
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-53367027267262653762016-04-27T16:27:00.002-04:002016-04-27T16:27:16.407-04:00VIDEO RELEASE -Rethinking Reentry: How One Reentry Partnership is Changing Lives in HarlemThe Harlem Community Justice Center's <a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/project/parole-reentry-court" target="_blank">Harlem Parole Reentry Court</a> works in partnership with faith partners the <a href="http://interfaithcenter.org/" target="_blank">Interfaith Center of New York</a> and the<a href="http://heavenlyrest.org/" target="_blank"> Church of the Heavenly Rest</a>, and the Harvard Kennedy School to support the men and women returning from prison to Harlem.This effort is supported by the <a href="http://www.jcflowersfoundation.org/" target="_blank">J. C Flowers Foundation</a> under its <a href="http://www.jcflowersfoundation.org/circles-of-support.html" target="_blank"> Circles of Support</a> partnership.<br />
<br />
This week in honor national of #reentyweek we are releasing a video about our partnership. It is a good example of how local collaborations that engage faith partners, the formerly incarcerated and their families can make a difference. Enjoy the short video and please share it with others!<br />
<br />
Click <a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/research/rethinking-reentry-how-one-reentry-partnership-changing-lives-harlem?url=research%2F12%2Fvideo&mode=12&type=video" target="_blank">here</a> to see the video or cut and past the link below:<br />
<br />
http://www.courtinnovation.org/research/rethinking-reentry-how-one-reentry-partnership-changing-lives-harlem?url=research%2F12%2Fvideo&mode=12&type=video<br />
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-65863981758920150232016-04-27T16:08:00.003-04:002016-04-27T16:55:10.347-04:00National Reentry Week <img alt="National Reentry Week, April 24-30, 2016" height="135" src="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/image_panes/images/2016/04/22/nrw_-_page.jpg" width="320" /><br />
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<div>
Attorney General Loretta Lynch has declared this week (April 24-30, 2016) <a href="https://www.justice.gov/reentry/reentry-week" target="_blank">National Reentry Week. </a> Reentry Week is more than a time to reflect on the 6,851,000 men and women who are in jail or prison or on probation and parole. It is a time to for action!<br />
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<br /></div>
<div>
All across the country local communicates are organizing events to support men and women are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated. For example, our sister project the Brownsville Community in partnership with the <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Brooklyn Defender
Services is hosting a Re-Entry Town Hall this Thursday April 28</span><sup style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> at the Justice Center -- <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/XtF52voV35K2" target="_blank">444 Thomas S. Boyland Street</a>, Brooklyn, NY from 12 to 4pm.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">To follow Reentry Week happenings on twitter use the hashtag: #reentryweek</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPjnUhHHBoGqdqTU5m07KL21Locfy1R6tzJFwS7MFGEM4yePIW5TfFD10DyDqHxFYvobnbhfrpf_Mfxu7haKNh1zw4sF8_iTbxv1J4yGmvoLKQb0pH2uCCfESv9Gg1k6hGsMsEXTKeJbSh/s1600/Re-Entry+Week+Flier+Imagejpg_Page1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPjnUhHHBoGqdqTU5m07KL21Locfy1R6tzJFwS7MFGEM4yePIW5TfFD10DyDqHxFYvobnbhfrpf_Mfxu7haKNh1zw4sF8_iTbxv1J4yGmvoLKQb0pH2uCCfESv9Gg1k6hGsMsEXTKeJbSh/s400/Re-Entry+Week+Flier+Imagejpg_Page1.jpg" width="308" /></a></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-50078340215187676932015-07-31T16:39:00.001-04:002015-07-31T16:39:09.548-04:00Mock Interview Night! <div class="MsoNormal">
On the evening of July
22, 2015, a group of 20 or so volunteers sat at small tables in a classroom of
the Dempsey Center, in Harlem. These volunteers-- members of the Episcopal
Church of the Heavenly Rest, located at 5<sup>th</sup> Avenue and 90<sup>th</sup>
Street, and The Brick Presbyterian Church at 62 East 92<sup>nd</sup> Street-- were
doctors and students and corporate headhunters and even professional opera
singers. Across from these volunteers sat men and women, ranging in age from 16
to 70, had been recently released from prison. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpkHvb9TPFWNXz3Qiz8aetugagVuei-3jlj9M6usNg-1DsHJ3MMfl6Jgu9R6mYVO-XMFqPz3MGZaK0jCA81oV8wXihl9dapK68VoFQ6HAexcnRUcU5TqPLP9F259X5JtPKyWnoCeos24e/s1600/mockinterview1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpkHvb9TPFWNXz3Qiz8aetugagVuei-3jlj9M6usNg-1DsHJ3MMfl6Jgu9R6mYVO-XMFqPz3MGZaK0jCA81oV8wXihl9dapK68VoFQ6HAexcnRUcU5TqPLP9F259X5JtPKyWnoCeos24e/s320/mockinterview1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This was Mock
Interview Night, a project of the Circles of Support produced in partnership
with the Harlem Community Justice Center, Interfaith Center of New York,
Network in the Community, and the J.C. Flowers Foundation. Designed to help
participants hone their interviewing skills and increase their confidence as
they navigate the job market, Mock Interview Night pairs formerly-incarcerated
individuals with professionals in their communities. As the Community
Engagement Specialist for the Harlem Community Justice Center, an organization
that provides reentry programs and support for recently paroled men and women,
I was awed and inspired by the depth of human engagement that fraternity that
emerged from the evening. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIC0NW-zndi4lFS59agjbDBYeRSlF2SlASIHvpoCE9g6cbBuwFPQxGe3mbQBjDaSQJ3wCjhhRu45pjwP34W8Yl6Mwr6rpAw9XSzdVblvpci4WszGJKFiWWmt35AgK3QQMjz0IWto8IMExs/s1600/DSC_1591.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIC0NW-zndi4lFS59agjbDBYeRSlF2SlASIHvpoCE9g6cbBuwFPQxGe3mbQBjDaSQJ3wCjhhRu45pjwP34W8Yl6Mwr6rpAw9XSzdVblvpci4WszGJKFiWWmt35AgK3QQMjz0IWto8IMExs/s320/DSC_1591.jpg" width="320" /></a>After several rounds
of interviews we all sat in a circle, sharing compliments and constructive
feedback. It was clear that everyone felt that it was an incredible, and incredibly
successful, evening. This was especially true for the two brothers who were in
attendance; the younger brother had just returned home after 4 years in prison
and his older brother was there to support him through the reentry process, not
to mention to brush up on his own interviewing skills. They seemed overjoyed to
be together, smiling and laughing often. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Harlem Community
Justice Center, a community court located in East Harlem, works to strengthen
its neighbors and community by providing resources and opportunities to the
families of those returning home from prison. Strong families support, and are
in turn supported by, strong communities. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As we streamed out
into the warm summer evening, exchanging our final “goodnights” and “goodbyes,”
no one could doubt that the participants of Mock Interview night would succeed.
And their success was emblematic of even greater things to come. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
By Thomas Edwards, Community Engagement Specialist and Nicolas Maiarelli, Circles of Support Intern </div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-56677197090813450462015-02-08T12:20:00.002-05:002015-02-08T12:24:13.349-05:00"Who Would Have Known?": Unexpected Gifts from The Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="http://heavenlyrest.org/visitor-information/" target="_blank">The Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest</a>, located on E. 90th Street and 5th Avenue, took a leap of faith last month and hosted a panel
discussion with its congregants about incarceration and reentry. The following week, they worked
hand-in-hand creating over 80 care packages for people coming home from prison
in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s memory. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">The care packages would be offered to clients who participate in prison reentry programs at the <a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/project/harlem-community-justice-center" target="_blank">Harlem Community Justice Center</a>, </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">a community court in East Harlem that works with its neighbors to solve local challenges and<a href="http://www.networkssi.org/network-in-the-community.html" target="_blank"> Network in the Community</a>, a therapeutic reentry and community reintegration program that works with formerly incarcerated individuals. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg66qDhSVREhbeB31y74rI1WniS9EAqeah8nrvDzRAYqNpfULF3R3jywrjdZYGm6fZkkPk2I19ZlRtxW2rvd58jcdEFM-Wh14-EyxN3Zndce6ftYgzEnFDNVLQ08v_eHjIgGuf1SuDANUSK/s1600/carepackages.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg66qDhSVREhbeB31y74rI1WniS9EAqeah8nrvDzRAYqNpfULF3R3jywrjdZYGm6fZkkPk2I19ZlRtxW2rvd58jcdEFM-Wh14-EyxN3Zndce6ftYgzEnFDNVLQ08v_eHjIgGuf1SuDANUSK/s1600/carepackages.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reentry client receiving a "Welcome Home" care package </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The gifts were received this week, with heartfelt appreciation, at the
Harlem Community Justice Center. There was a mixture of excitement and skepticism
as I passed out Heavenly Rest's care packages while our clients waited to see their parole officers. The packages
contained a scarf, hat, gloves, socks and a gift card to a local grocery store. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As I sat with each client, explaining who the
package was from and what inspired this project, they struggled to comprehend
that a group of strangers cared about them...that someone they didn't know cared if they were
warm this winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the young men that received a bag
immediately put on the hat and said to his friend, “We should take a selfie and
put this on Instagram, we just got a present AT PAROLE!!! No one is gonna believe
this.” Ironically, his friend had previously declined the bag. After seeing his peer’s excitement and the
bag's contents, he bashfully asked me if he could still have one. Others </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">were showing each
other the gloves and proclaiming their excitement for the snow this weekend
because they were well-equipped for it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This
was a transformative moment for many of our clients, who frequently
experience rejection and isolation from positive social institutions and
people, but like all of us, seek belonging and acceptance. In the words
of one of our participants,
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Who would have known?” </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Thank
you to the Church of Heavenly Rest for your care and inclusion, showing
those returning from prison that we need them in our community and want
them to stay home. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Written
By Amanda Levering, Strategic Coordinator of Sharing the Journey
Home: Harlem (formerly know as the Reentry Family and Faith Circles of
Support). Lovingly Funded by the <a href="http://www.jcflowersfoundation.org/" target="_blank">J.C. Flowers Foundation</a>, Sharing the Journey Home is </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">a </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">local
Harlem
reentry partnership that includes The Harlem Community Justice Center,
The
Interfaith Center of New York, and Network in the Community. Sharing the
Journey Home cultivates leadership among the formerly incarcerated,
their families,
and faith leaders to strengthen our communities</span>.</span></span></span></i></span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-39758383870841040402014-11-26T13:25:00.001-05:002014-11-26T13:31:54.308-05:00Leading By Example: Raising My Voice Speaker's Bureau presents to Justice Involved Young Adults<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On October 20th, 2014, three graduates of Raising My Voice,
a leadership and public speaking training for formerly incarcerated men and
women, shared their story with the Harlem Justice Corps, a community service,
employment, and education program for 18-24 year old men and women with
histories of justice involvement. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
packed room consisted of 21 corps members, staff and interns. When the speakers
entered the room, the anticipation of the youth was felt and verbalized with
statements like, “stop introducing them, and let them talk to us!” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">With humility and grace, three graduates shared their life
stories of childhood, gang involvement, robberies, homicide, incarceration and
reentry. All three of these speakers were under the age of twenty when they
committed their crimes. The speakers focused on the effects that their crimes
had on the victims, their families and their lives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When one speaker shared, “I made the choice of
being in the street to get away from a bad home situation,” the silence in the
room was deafening. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJVGZTRqAL9BwRv697AOUKGvfs0UZmYqT4RkTlaWvPbZL7p_OzoClVJSR8DVRXOYs7479eriCudaYfie6OgEZlSElyQpcn5zAXBmtTPAP9lXbfYzgTbCeB63-PW2LhgBvw4zm3N77VnwA8/s1600/OrangLeaderOnPodiumSM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJVGZTRqAL9BwRv697AOUKGvfs0UZmYqT4RkTlaWvPbZL7p_OzoClVJSR8DVRXOYs7479eriCudaYfie6OgEZlSElyQpcn5zAXBmtTPAP9lXbfYzgTbCeB63-PW2LhgBvw4zm3N77VnwA8/s1600/OrangLeaderOnPodiumSM.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another speaker shared that his loyalty to a gang cost him nineteen
birthdays in prison and in the end that gang showed him not one shred of
loyalty back. The third speaker spoke about poor decision making and the
unintended consequences of shattering his family. One speaker shared that he
created a new life narrative during his incarceration by raising money to
support an injured woman.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All of our speakers talked about the role of education and
how it transformed their world view and self-perception. Each speaker described
the relationship between being uneducated, lacking employment and life skills and
their attraction to “street life”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In a pivotal moment of the presentation one speaker
remarked: “I knew I needed to change, but didn’t know how. I thought and
thought about what I could do, and it hit me- I need to stop doing crime. Just
that one thing began to change my life.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the end of the presentations, we opened the floor for
questions. The first corps member to ask a question, a participant of the Reentry
Family and Faith Circles of Support Program at Harlem Reentry, asked the panel,
“How do you feel now that the holidays are coming?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“The holidays didn’t mean much to me while in prison for all
of those years- it was just another day. Now that I am home, I am going to have
to get used to customs and spending time with my family. Prison teaches you to
be isolated and alone, to be safe” responded one of the speakers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another question asked by a corps member was, “How much
money did you get from these robberies?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The speakers answered incisively: a very high price was paid, nothing
was gained. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The messages of these three speakers weren’t just heard
today; they were received. This was even clear after the presentation, when the
Justice Corps members approached the speakers to shake their hands and thank
them for coming. Maybe for the first time in their lives, they weren’t being
lectured by someone in power – they were receiving a message from credible <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and skilled </i>messengers. Maybe the next
time HJC hosts speakers from this training, it will be former HJC members
finding and raising their own voices. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><em>Written by Linda Steele, Raising My Voice Trainer and Workforce Development Specialist at the Harlem Community Justice Center</em></span></o:p></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-59904640082604316932014-08-26T16:19:00.000-04:002014-08-26T16:19:00.693-04:00Do Criminal Justice Risk Assessment Tools Perpetuate Bias? <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">An interesting <a href="http://www.vox.com/2014/8/25/5995757/evidence-based-sentencing-racism?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_name=share-button&utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=article-share-top" target="_blank">article on Vox</a> explores the use of evidence-based risk assessments tools in sentencing decisions and poses the provocative question: Could these tools perpetuate racial bias? The article references <a href="http://time.com/3061893/holder-to-oppose-data-driven-sentencing/" target="_blank">an interview with Attorney General Eric Holder</a> in Time Magazine where Holder expresses concern about the use of non-behavioral factors in risk assessment tools for sentencing. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">The proliferation of evidence-based risk assessment tools has generally been seen by progressives and conservatives alike as a good thing. These tools, as pointed out in the Time article, have saved states millions of dollars through reduced prison populations without compromising public safety. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As a mountain of social </span>scientific<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>evidence<span style="font-family: inherit;"> over the past 20 years makes clear, decision making in the criminal justice process is froth with racial and class bias. Michelle Alexander in her book the </span><a href="http://newjimcrow.com/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">New Jim Crow</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> chronicles the evolution of the American racial caste system from slavery through mass incarceration. She writes: </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 27px;"><i>Rather than rely on race, we use our criminal justice system to label people of color “criminals” and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind. Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans. Once you’re labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination—employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion from jury service—are suddenly legal</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Evidence-based risk assessments have gain currency in criminal justice reform circles </span>because<span style="font-family: inherit;"> they reduce the subjective bias of individual decision makers in the criminal justice process. Ideally, they provide an objective assessment of a person's risk to re-offend that can be factored into </span>decision making<span style="font-family: inherit;">. Yet, how these tools are constructed and used is worthy of continued discussion and research</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-14707672860031123372014-08-25T12:05:00.003-04:002014-08-25T12:05:35.364-04:002014 Harlem Family Reentry Day Block Party<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">On
Saturday August 23, the <a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/project/harlem-community-justice-center" target="_blank">Harlem Community Justice Center</a> organized its annual Harlem
Reentry Family Day Block Party. The day began with an army of green
shirted volunteers that included Justice Center staff, participants in our prisoner
reentry programs, faith based volunteers from the Family Reentry Circles of
Support program, a partnership between the Justice Center, <a href="http://interfaithcenter.org/" target="_blank">Interfaith Center of New York</a> and <a href="http://www.networkssi.org/" target="_blank">Network Support Services</a></span>, as well as some college fraternities
and sororities and our funder the <a href="http://www.jcflowersfoundation.org/" target="_blank">J.C. Flowers Foundation. </a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
Family Day even</span></span><span style="line-height: 17px;">t included performances by the <a href="http://www.uptowndanceacademy.com/" target="_blank">Uptown Dance Academy</a>, a martial arts demonstration by congregants from Masjidus Sabur, face painting and games for kids as well as food for all. Many of the participants were families who have had a loved one in prison. Yet, as one participant said, “this event is the beloved community where everyone is just a human being.” The pictures really tell the story.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px;">The Justice Center’s reentry partnerships seek to reduce incarceration, the stigma of incarceration and improve public safety. This is achieved not just through the use of evidence-based interventions for men and women leaving prison, but also by activating the informal assets in communities like faith volunteers, families and the formerly incarcerated themselves. Events like the Block Party are one way this is done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px;">In communities like Harlem the justice system disproportionately intervenes in the lives of families of color. The result is that children of incarcerated parents are more likely to be poor, less likely to graduate from high school and more likely to serve time in prison later in life. <a href="http://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/pio/2013-children-with-inarcerated-parents-report.pdf" target="_blank">By some estimates half of all persons in prison are the parents of a minor child under 21</a>. When a community’s collective efficacy is strengthened it is better able to respond to problems like child well-being and crime without over-relying on government intervention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px;"><b>Special thanks to our sponsors and partners who made Family Day a success!</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><u style="line-height: 19px;">Community Partners:</u><span style="line-height: 19px;"> Network Support Services, Elmendorf Reformed Church, Alternative to Violence Project, Exodus Transitional Community Services, Palladia, Inc., Samaritan Village, Inc., Create Inc., Odyssey House, Masjidus Sabur, Seventh Day Sanctified Church, St. Luke’s AME Church, Riverside Church Barber Training Program.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px;"><u><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></u></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px;"><u>Corporate Sponsors:</u> Direct Print, Inc., Duane Reade, Costco Wholesale Warehouse, Target, American outlet, Dunkin Donuts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px;"><u>Funders: </u>New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance, J.C. Flowers Foundation, New York State Office of Court Administration.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5601320008076081171" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 107%; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="" /></a><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-80716663732050464172014-08-14T11:05:00.000-04:002014-08-14T11:05:03.411-04:00A Journey of Love: Circles of Support Volunteer Profiles<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Cambria;"></span></o:p> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria;">Service is not limited to one demographic
or approach. Just ask Sha Ron Mason, a chaplain at Word Enlightenment Church of
Jesus Christ, who has served nearly every aspect of the community. Chaplain
Mason has worked with children for over fifteen years as the former Director of
Recreation through City Parks and Recreation, and she currently supports
formerly incarcerated individuals through the Faith and Family Circles of
Support initiative. In addition to volunteering at the Harlem Community Justice
Center, she also serves through her church’s Give Away Program and Problem
Solving Committee—an offshoot of Word Enlightenment’s youth program. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWbHW85a03PEGj6GKUIA37ocbPNS1MS-_6FU8kWz_dWRB3s9lG3Azy92OYkRTk6NGEdUc-m3TQKXtilhr57ZOBggJDtmUNU0pBIQ47VRgKnZnSSoxMWxh84HCGtlUrSgaP4M1se4tdYeLl/s1600/photo+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWbHW85a03PEGj6GKUIA37ocbPNS1MS-_6FU8kWz_dWRB3s9lG3Azy92OYkRTk6NGEdUc-m3TQKXtilhr57ZOBggJDtmUNU0pBIQ47VRgKnZnSSoxMWxh84HCGtlUrSgaP4M1se4tdYeLl/s1600/photo+2.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria;">Chaplain Mason has also taken
unconventional routes to community advocacy and activism. “I used to perform at
the Manhattan Center. I would sing and act in political plays,” she reflects
with a reminiscent grin. “I’ve done a lot of things in my life…and it’s still
not over.” Chaplain Mason’s past involvement in social and political theater
gives only a little insight into her journey to supporting formerly
incarcerated individuals. Having grown up in the Jim Crow South, she has
witnessed firsthand the oftentimes racially biased abuses of the justice
system. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wherever there is an abuse of power,
Chaplain Mason is sure to be in the public eye advocating for change, whether
here in Harlem or across the boroughs of New York City. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria;">Chaplain Mason also recognizes the
importance of taking proactive approaches to justice system reform. This is why
she takes time out of her schedule to serve breakfast to individuals on parole
every Thursday. “So many of these young men come in here with their heads
hanging down,” she tells me as she imitates this introversive demeanor. “If you
can just bring a smile on someone’s face, that is a huge help.” Chaplain Mason
has a way with getting these individuals to smile. Her secret? Building trust.
“I like to get to know their stories on a one-on-one level,” she says, flashing
a smile as she hands a cup of coffee to a young man. It is this personal
interaction and genuine spirit that fosters trust between her and the formerly
incarcerated individuals she passionately supports. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria;">Chaplain Mason not only exemplifies
the importance of involving faith communities in reentry service, but she also
represents the importance of supporting families of justice-involved
individuals. “Families need counseling as well. Many of them have been hurt and
sometimes taken advantage of and harassed,” she explains. “One of the most
painful things is going to the police to get a court order of protection to
keep your child from harassing you,” Sha Ron recounts of her personal experience.
“I didn’t even recognize my son. It hurt so bad to see him like that.” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;">But Chaplain Mason did not let this
low point keep her down. Her response highlights the value of faith to
individuals affected by incarceration. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“My faith [was] the only thing that got me
through that, because God was the only one I could turn to,” she reflects. Though
Chaplain Mason has actively supported returning citizens, she urges more faith
communities to get involved by “journeying with them wherever they are.” Meeting
people where they are is another crucial factor in establishing trust. “If you
can get them to open up on one of their issues, you can get them to open up on
most of their issues,” she insists. As her journey of service continues,
Chaplain Mason reveals the heart of her secret to establishing trust—love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That’s what love is about,” she reveals, “when
you can journey with someone.” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<em style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">With a grant from the J.C Flowers Foundation, the Harlem Community Justice Center, the Interfaith Center of New York and the Network in the Prisons/ Network in the Community Programs (Network Program) have created a partnership with the goal of engaging family members and faith community volunteers to support men and women returning to Harlem from prison. The initiative is called The<strong> Family and Faith Reentry Circles of Support Program</strong>.</span></em><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">The series of profiles of volunteers, staff, and participants, of the Reentry Family and Faith Circles of Support program, are written by Monique Claiborne. Monique--an Opelousas, Louisiana native-- is a Politics major at Princeton University. Currently an intern at the Harlem Community Justice Center, Monique plans to continue working for systemic justice reform as an attorney in the near future.</span></em></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span> <br />
<o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-47652426378506822242014-07-28T13:02:00.000-04:002014-07-28T13:03:09.866-04:00Each One Teach One: A Profile of a Circles of Support Volunteer<div class="MsoNormal">
Meet Aubrey Woods, Jr., a religious education teacher at
Carmel Hayes Catholic High School and Community Outreach Youth Coordinator for
his housing development. Having first got involved with the Interfaith Center
of New York when he attended one of its workshops on working with troubled
youth, Aubrey learned of the opportunity to serve breakfast to young men
awaiting parole hearings at the Harlem Community Justice Center.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVxy9pJkED7DME_39_XYR400PJTgNMTgTrTlWIhfEx5_jh2apoIYbqP8zuPtqteknCMjfY3jGeFAD2I8tWhIoYw1CEJAMChRwXMJNjtesjlyL8cSUEbDv_eOtArznfQ7YcNWukJtflSGTT/s1600/mentoring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVxy9pJkED7DME_39_XYR400PJTgNMTgTrTlWIhfEx5_jh2apoIYbqP8zuPtqteknCMjfY3jGeFAD2I8tWhIoYw1CEJAMChRwXMJNjtesjlyL8cSUEbDv_eOtArznfQ7YcNWukJtflSGTT/s1600/mentoring.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Born and raised in Harlem, Aubrey prides<o:p></o:p></div>
himself in having
lead Boy Scouts, ranging from ages six to young adult, for twenty-five years.
It is no wonder that he finds himself volunteering to serve breakfast at the
Justice Center on Thursdays. “My work with boy scouts got me interested in
serving the young men here,” Aubrey informed me as he manned the beverage
station. Aubrey’s relationship with his former scouts goes deeper than the
usual teacher-student model. His work with the scouts has informed him of the
needs of young men in this community, especially their need for a father. “I’ve
become a father-figure to many of my scouts. Usually, their mothers would put
them in the program hoping they would find positive male guidance.” <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, Aubrey is a godfather to three of his scouts.
Anthony was his first godson and former religious education student. “Anthony
used to imitate me all the time, and I quickly became a father figure to him.”
After his baptism as a young man, Anthony chose Aubrey to be his godfather. Now
a father himself, Anthony strives to be a father to his child the way Aubrey
was like a father to him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Aubrey was growing up in Harlem, the entire community
was like a mentor. But he doesn’t see the same community support anymore.
“These young men need to return to a community that supports them, and that’s
why I’m here. I love seeing them succeed,” Aubrey said with a smile as he
handed a glass of orange juice to a returning citizen. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An active member at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Aubrey
also credits much of his community involvement to his faith. “My father always
told me, ‘Keep the faith,’” Aubrey said. What does he continually tell the
young men he serves and mentors? “I always tell the young men, ‘Be all that you
can be,’ and ‘Each one teach one.’ It’s clear that Aubrey is seeking to not
only mentor young men in the community, but he is also ensuring that they will
continue to be mentors to the young men that come after him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<em style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">With a grant from the J.C Flowers Foundation, the Harlem Community Justice Center, the Interfaith Center of New York and the Network in the Prisons/ Network in the Community Programs (Network Program) have created a partnership with the goal of engaging family members and faith community volunteers to support men and women returning to Harlem from prison. The initiative is called The<strong> Family and Faith Reentry Circles of Support Program</strong>.</span></em><br />
<em style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></em>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 20px;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">The series of profiles of volunteers, staff, and participants, of the Reentry Family and Faith Circles of Support program, are written by Monique Claiborne. Monique--an Opelousas, Louisiana native-- is a Politics major at Princeton University. Currently an intern at the Harlem Community Justice Center, Monique plans to continue working for systemic justice reform as an attorney in the near future.</span></em></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-51866617631048643212014-07-22T16:36:00.000-04:002014-07-22T16:43:55.178-04:00Your Tongue Can Deliver The Message Of Your Heart: A Speaker's Bureau of Formerly Incarcerated Individuals<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">“You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message
of your heart.” </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This sentence is posted to the wall in the basement of St.
Philip’s Episcopal Church where thirteen men and women are chatting and
breaking bread together on a rainy Monday evening. Deciphering the
quote, one participant, Craig offers, “If you say it from your heart, you can
say it freely and openly.” David suggested, “You’re confident when speaking
about what you know.” <span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Although this group only first met the previous week, an
outsider would have thought Monday night's gathering was a reunion of old
friends. In fact, it was the second session of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Raising My Voice,</i> our inaugural Speaker’s Bureau training for formerly
incarcerated individuals. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Speaker’s Bureau is part of our Reentry Faith and Family
Circles of Support initiative, a partnership with the Interfaith Center of New
York and Network Support Services, generously funded by the J.C. Flowers Foundation. This public speaking and leadership
initiative offers individuals who have returned from prison and transformed their
lives the opportunity to share their personal narrative to: 1) inspire
communities to mobilize around effective reentry policies and practices; 2)
“give back” to communities they have harmed by deterring<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>others from walking in their shoes; and 3)
develop critical work and leadership skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Raising My Voice</i> members
receive 22 hours of an intensive public speaking training utilizing an 11 session,
highly interactive curriculum designed specifically for formerly incarcerated
persons. Upon graduation, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Raising My
Voice</i> members present to faith groups, community organizations, and
students, as well as non-traditional audiences such as employers, prosecutors,
and law enforcement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">As evidenced from Monday night’s session, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Raising My Voice</i> also provides our
participants with a strong peer support network. The basement of St. Philip’s
was filled with an atmosphere of trust and safety as participants shared deeply
personal experiences and in turn, supported one another with positive feedback.
In the basement of St. Philip’s, the Speaker’s Bureau participants created
their own sanctuary. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEb9-5_0pK2BmgXDYX98gKGT0Ye7q0cOkHOdRUQ3IuwtKfJ3uBA8T0rDHDszPo1W7Vwb2ru12y3gooLOZSLhjhvsiwUOBKha-jkK45Vwb0EsLqdyYPgg0swMz42gfEhY8bifivbM6zAq0/s1600/SB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEb9-5_0pK2BmgXDYX98gKGT0Ye7q0cOkHOdRUQ3IuwtKfJ3uBA8T0rDHDszPo1W7Vwb2ru12y3gooLOZSLhjhvsiwUOBKha-jkK45Vwb0EsLqdyYPgg0swMz42gfEhY8bifivbM6zAq0/s1600/SB.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linda Steele, HCJC Staff Member,facilitates the second <br />
session of "Raising My Voice." </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The night began with participants sharing a delicious dinner. The room quickly filled with sounds of laughter as
participants shuffled in, greeting each other warmly. Capturing the special
nature of this cohort, the group facilitator, Linda Steele told the group, “After
doing interviews with you all, I needed to sit in dark room with no stimulation
because I was so revved up for this group!” <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The training kicked off with introductions in which
participants were asked to share their reasons for joining the program: “I want
to give back to my community”. “I enjoy writing personal narratives”. “Public
speaking is my passion”. “I’m motivated to be around everyone and build
community”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;">The core of the evening was spent on 2 minute presentations
that participants had prepared in advance. Two of our faith-based volunteers,
Eric Sessoms and Nuri Ansari helped out by videotaping the presentations so
participants could assess their progress at the end of the program. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">In their presentations, participants shared their aspirations.
Each one gave voice to aspirations big and small; to become a social worker, to
open a home for women coming home from prison, to learn to ride a bike, to go
back and volunteer in prisons. They also shared challenges- being a single
father for a young daughter, overcoming alcohol addiction, overcoming a speech
impediment, and their experience with the criminal justice system. After each
presenter, the group provided feedback in the form of “what was wow and what as
good?”. Many members pointed to the sense of trust and comfort among the group
that produced such heartfelt presentations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Throughout the evening, the presenters approached the podium
with grace and style, using presentation tools such as anecdotes and props.
Most impressive was the courage and confidence they exhibited. After someone
commented on one presenter’s bravery in speaking publicly about a personal
topic, the presenter responded, “I think I’ve lost a lot of opportunities in
the past by not being able to come up here and speak.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">After such a great start, we can only imagine the incredible
accomplishments that are yet to come from this group! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;"> With a grant from the J.C Flowers Foundation, the Harlem Community Justice Center, the Interfaith Center of New York and the Network in the Prisons/ Network in the Community Programs (Network Program) have created a partnership with the goal of engaging family members and faith community volunteers to support men and women returning to Harlem from prison. The initiative is called The<strong> Family and Faith Reentry Circles of Support Program</strong>.</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="il">Bina</span> Peltz, author of this blog post, is a student at Princeton University, where she majors in Politics with a focus on the intersection of religion and law and sociology of law. She is a summer intern at the Harlem Community Justice Center's Reentry Program.</span></span></em> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-58339738186440523272014-07-21T19:07:00.003-04:002014-07-22T16:42:04.775-04:00It's the People: A Profile of a Circles of Support Volunteer<div class="MsoNormal">
Though she is no longer a little child, Magali King is still
fulfilling the mission that her mother instilled in her long ago—to give back
to the community. A home care assistant
and member of All Saints Roman Catholic Church, Magali loves helping people.
Serving breakfast at the Harlem Community Justice Center as individuals await
their parole hearings is one of several ways she enjoys giving back. As a
member on the usher board and regular volunteer in food pantries at her church,
serving others is familiar territory to Magali. “This comes easy to me,” she
says. “I just enjoy helping out and doing things for other people that can
appreciate it.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I am sitting with Magali in the breakfast room, there is
an unmistakable sense of kindness and hospitality in the air. “Would you like
your coffee dry or not?” Magali asks one young man. His response? “It [doesn’t]
matter. I just appreciate it.” When another young man—walks into
the room, he and Sarah Colburn—another Interfaith Center volunteer—share a few
laughs over some Chris Brown lyrics. “That’s good,” Sarah says between
chuckles. “We all need a good laugh.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF04LsFfDcJs-xJrC6ZI2uhs1qyUPBFU5k4OW39wIZNBDKkzhGC7868oTpUCHqaIAquzV0B0QHF2392_KO94BEy4IafCrFRdUnTUMktZZbJnfl7bZ0FsMXh7-B8gagfeHL1PWzuIbKxBFG/s1600/Migali.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF04LsFfDcJs-xJrC6ZI2uhs1qyUPBFU5k4OW39wIZNBDKkzhGC7868oTpUCHqaIAquzV0B0QHF2392_KO94BEy4IafCrFRdUnTUMktZZbJnfl7bZ0FsMXh7-B8gagfeHL1PWzuIbKxBFG/s1600/Migali.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Migali King serving breakfast at the Harlem Community Justice Center</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As someone who has justice involved family and friends, Magali’s
interest in supporting returning citizens can be a bit personal. “When I was a
child, my sister’s boyfriend’s brother was incarcerated, and my mother would
take us with her to bring him food in jail.” Magali recounts that this young
man’s family was not very involved in his life, and he was basically an orphan.
But her mother’s kindness was not limited to friends of her family. “My mother
would introduce herself to other inmates who didn’t have family, and she would
help the too.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Magali clearly knows how crucial family support is in fostering
individual success, especially for individuals returning home from
incarceration. “They need to feel comfortable, loved and understood,” she tells
me as she pours yet another cup of coffee for a grateful returning citizen.
“Family can help them move forward in society in a positive way with a positive
mind frame.” Magali’s mentality is that people ought to respect and accept others’
situations. She adds, “If they’re not doing any harm to you, then you ought to
be more than happy to help.” Seeing smiles
on peoples’ faces is enough to satisfy Magali. “We [volunteers] are just
someone different they can talk to and relate to. If they have no one else,
they have us.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The atmosphere in the breakfast room is still thick with
overwhelming friendliness and sincerity as breakfast time winds down. A young
man walks into the room and eyes the fruit. “This is good breakfast. Healthy,
with the fruits and stuff,” he tells us. “They don’t do this at other parole offices. <o:p></o:p></div>
. And it saves me money because I don’t have to go out and buy it.”
Healthy breakfast isn’t the only thing that sets the Harlem Community Justice
Center apart. It’s the people. “We have a lot of nice people here. They should
have more programs like this,” says Sarah Colburn with a smile. “I’m glad I get
to volunteer here.” The rest of us—Magali, a couple of returning citizens and I—all
smile and nod in agreement. Well said.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<em style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The series of profiles of volunteers, staff, and participants, of the Reentry Family and Faith Circles of Support program, are written by Monique Claiborne. Monique--an Opelousas, Louisiana native-- is a Politics major at Princeton University. Currently an intern at the Harlem Community Justice Center, Monique plans to continue working for systemic justice reform as an attorney in the near future.</span></span></em><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-31937009490052737742014-07-14T19:29:00.000-04:002014-07-14T19:31:13.937-04:00A Human Face of God: A Profile of a "Circles of Support" Volunteer<div class="MsoNormal">
The little things often make the biggest difference in
peoples’ circumstances. Volunteers from the Interfaith Center of New York serve
breakfast during parole hearings every Thursday. “Wow! You guys make a horrible
situation better,” said one of several young people whom Rev. Lobie Redhawk has
touched as a volunteer at the Harlem Community Justice Center. It’s amazing how
much of a difference a friendly face and delicious breakfast can make to
individuals returning from incarceration as they await their parole hearings.
Little thing. Big difference.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While Rev. Redhawk is an associate minister at the
Interfaith Temple, she does not confine her ministry to a single location.
“That’s the whole point of my calling—to be available,” Rev. Redhawk informed
me. She not only makes herself available every other Thursday to serve
breakfast during parole hearings, but she also makes herself available to
engage in cordial conversation to those whom she serves. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reentry reform is a matter of securing human rights,
according to Rev. Redhawk who feels that society has yet to embrace the
“overarching reality” that human rights are the basis of society. In fact,
human rights issues are what led her to interfaith ministry in the first place.
“I’ve always been aware of social inequities and human rights abuses,” said
Rev. Redhawk. “Our spirituality is the
linchpin of our humanity. When we recognize that humanity is our uniting
religion, maybe then we’ll realize what human rights are all about.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvvRqpe3TQm4rkGQv3dMKyPVFZTXYkuxUErifkmGIOWZ7hhrO6dUdDcx1e-tnUXg4E4OYIQs-gn0nOYnqCyX9FwwvBed6g60gs0RpkM3BfmBddcQfVnDNZAclhfxFXPSwYBqYgIOf9MhlM/s1600/humanrights-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvvRqpe3TQm4rkGQv3dMKyPVFZTXYkuxUErifkmGIOWZ7hhrO6dUdDcx1e-tnUXg4E4OYIQs-gn0nOYnqCyX9FwwvBed6g60gs0RpkM3BfmBddcQfVnDNZAclhfxFXPSwYBqYgIOf9MhlM/s1600/humanrights-01.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rev. Redhawk has witnessed human rights abuses of the
justice system by watching the impersonal ways in which her neighbor, who was
“arrested for the silliness that happened in the building,” was treated. By the
time the of the young woman’s sentencing, she had already been in jail longer
than her sentence, and the sentencing itself revealed a plethora of additional
issues. Rev. Redhawk reports having watched a court <o:p></o:p></div>
officer sexually
harass her neighbor in plain view of the court. “At that point, it was clear
that this was all orchestrated to keep her there,” said Redhawk, who eventually
brought her neighbor home after hours of dealing with impatient and incompetent
court and jail staff. <br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having seen the ways in which prison abuses continue to
traumatize her neighbor who is now back home, Rev. Lobie strives to do whatever
she can to assist and encourage other justice involved individuals. In addition
to service breakfast to returning citizens on Thursday mornings, she also
serves as the primary United Nations representative for the Gray Panthers, a
national non-government social justice advocacy group. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The chaplain’s responsibility is always to be the human
face of God. An all-inclusive, loving person makes all the difference,” said
Rev. Redhawk, who is setting a remarkable example of the power of faith in
reentry reform. But what more could religious communities do to welcome formerly
incarcerated citizens back into the community? Rev. Lobie Redhawk believes, “Houses
of worship need to open their doors, open their hearts and share their
resources. There’s always more work to be done.”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;"> With a grant from the J.C Flowers Foundation, the Harlem Community Justice Center, the Interfaith Center of New York and the Network in the Prisons/ Network in the Community Programs (Network Program) have created a partnership with the goal of engaging family members and faith community volunteers to support men and women returning to Harlem from prison. The initiative is called The<strong> Family and Faith Reentry Circles of Support Program</strong>.</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">The forthcoming series of profiles of volunteers, staff, and participants, of the Reentry Family and Faith Circles of Support program, are written by Monique Claiborne. Monique--an Opelousas, Louisiana native-- is a Politics major at Princeton University. Currently an intern at the Harlem Community Justice Center, Monique plans to continue working for systemic justice reform as an attorney in the near future.</span></em></div>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-40398992249887054192014-06-30T14:59:00.000-04:002014-07-14T19:33:44.370-04:00You Can Do it!: Profiles of "Circles of Support" Volunteers<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you ever thought telling someone “Good morning,” and
flashing them a genuine smile was a futile effort at service, you clearly
haven’t met Sarah Colbert. This 70 year old South Carolina native takes time
out of her schedule Thursday mornings to do just that at the Harlem Community
Justice Center during parole hearings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“I’m glad it might rain so my friends can’t play the tennis
match without me,” Sarah joked as she served bagels and muffins to the individuals under parole supervision
awaiting their parole hearings at the Harlem Community Justice Center. That’s right. This retired radiology tech,
Occupational Safety Department employee and nursing
assistant has been playing tennis for the past seven years. She also loves
bowling and volunteering through the Interfaith Center of New York and her
church—St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal Church—where she has volunteered
with the HIV/AIDS program, feeding ministry and health education.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">You might notice a common theme in Sarah’s life based upon
her former employment, current volunteer involvement and sports interests. “My
heart is in health and service,” Sarah informed me. “My parents raised me to
serve all people. There’s always so much to do.” Proud to call Harlem her home
for the past several years, Sarah clearly did not leave her “southern
hospitality” back in South Carolina. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But what brought Sarah to serve formerly incarcerated individuals as they await
their parole hearings? “I love encouraging young people here and getting smiles
and hearing their stories.” Considering the uncertainty and stress that
precedes parole hearings, simple words of encouragement and smiles are worth
more than you might think. I couldn’t help smiling as I observed Sarah talk and
laugh with so many of these young men by name. It’s obvious that the fruits of
her service extend beyond handing out breakfast pastries and beverages here
once a week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8FgG-DSibQhTTQSMw1eYH9wUMMD6efqK9T1QuByVsBQGi4kMH6Wy_y9cV97vnS7YLje-rMRQSZWSMRZOGsJUjtO8LxAtcDJ2CKc8x5PPSD1BnbBg5u5SfdglIMvsKARu8XbaY-nA3bQtf/s1600/blog+post.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8FgG-DSibQhTTQSMw1eYH9wUMMD6efqK9T1QuByVsBQGi4kMH6Wy_y9cV97vnS7YLje-rMRQSZWSMRZOGsJUjtO8LxAtcDJ2CKc8x5PPSD1BnbBg5u5SfdglIMvsKARu8XbaY-nA3bQtf/s1600/blog+post.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sarah’s heart for justice involved young people is also a
bit personal, as her son has been involved in his share of unjust run-ins with
the police. “I also have a friend whose son was falsely accused, and he just
received his bachelor’s degree,” Sarah shared. “I love when kids tell me
they’re going back to school or whatever their plans are. I love watching them
flourish.” One of the most important principles Sarah shares with these people
is to be leaders, not followers. And when they lead, they must lead people down
the right path. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“You can do it,” is one of two favorite phrases Sarah often
shares with the young people she serves. The other phrase? “God promised it to
you.” It is no coincidence that a majority of Sarah’s community service
involvement has been through church ministries. In fact, all of her service has
been inspired by her faith. Her favorite Bible verse is Luke 6:31, “Do to
others as you would have them do to you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The importance of service that her parents instilled in Sarah is truly a
living principle as Sarah continues to live this message.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;"> With a grant from the J.C Flowers Foundation, the Harlem Community Justice
Center, the Interfaith Center of New York and the Network in the Prisons/
Network in the Community Programs (Network Program) have created a partnership
with the goal of engaging family members and faith community volunteers to
support men and women returning to Harlem from prison. The initiative is called
The<strong> Family and Faith Reentry Circles of Support
Program</strong>.</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">The forthcoming series of profiles of volunteers, staff, and participants, of the Reentry Family and Faith Circles of Support program, are written by Monique Claiborne. Monique--an Opelousas, Louisiana native--
is a Politics major at Princeton University. Currently an intern at the Harlem
Community Justice Center, Monique plans to continue working for systemic
justice reform as an attorney in the near future.</span></em></div>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-78487615343341043232014-06-12T16:23:00.004-04:002014-06-12T17:31:02.475-04:00New York State Reentry Task Force 2014 Annual Meeting and Criminal Justice Trends Yesterday, the Manhattan Reentry Task Force's leadership (Co-chairs, Lee Tennyson, Bureau Chief from New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), Chris Watler, Project Director of the Harlem Community Justice Center) and I joined the 19 New York State County Reentry Task Forces and criminal justice leaders from across the state for our first Annual County Reentry Task Force Meeting. The goal of the meeting was to highlight the promising reentry work that is being done across the state, share best practices, learn about criminal justice trends, and hear directly from state leadership. <br />
<br />
The <a href="http://the%20grant%20funds%20allow%20counties%20to%20employ%20reentry%20coordinators%20who%20work%20with%20a%20diverse%20group%20of%20agencies%20-%20including%20police%20departments,%20community%20supervision%20agencies,%20mental%20health%20and%20social%20service%20providers%20-%20to%20identify%20gaps%20in%20service%20and%20provide%20coordinated%20services%20to%20offenders%20at%20a%20high%20risk%20of%20recidivism%20with%20needs%20such%20as%20housing,%20employment%20and%20substance%20abuse%20treatment/" target="_blank">New York State County Reentry Task Force Initiative</a>, spearheaded and funded by the Division of Criminal Justice services "allows counties to employ reentry coordinators who work with a diverse group of agencies - including police departments, community supervision agencies, mental health and social service providers - to identify gaps in service and provide coordinated services to offenders at a high risk of recidivism with needs such as housing, employment and substance abuse treatment." <br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj0t2e2toK6SKo4ezZvZAgPW7XuUHknZf30YFbsHFawPugV-ovTWV4OQJZ4cpwDHfy7n_mkcpKc67K3J4Nl9wOrUr0-BOeKLwCHeFtfsrh9mbKlUWN_s2_36FMODWdyb0twLiGo-vHlWSY/s1600/annuci.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj0t2e2toK6SKo4ezZvZAgPW7XuUHknZf30YFbsHFawPugV-ovTWV4OQJZ4cpwDHfy7n_mkcpKc67K3J4Nl9wOrUr0-BOeKLwCHeFtfsrh9mbKlUWN_s2_36FMODWdyb0twLiGo-vHlWSY/s1600/annuci.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anthony Annucci, Acting Commissioner, NY State<br />
DOCCS<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
New York State DOCCS Acting Commissioner Anthony Annuci, kicked the day off by observing that "not until very recently was the term 'reentry' part of the criminal justice language." He praised the work of the Task Forces, noting that the 2500 individuals released each month from the 58 Correctional Facilities across the state all benefited from the Task Force's hard work. To drive home the point, he read the eloquent words of Larry White, a formerly incarcerated man who "dreamt of going many places [ over his 30 years of incarceration], but found himself most frequently, on a park bench [after release]."<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqoKuY-MuBx27yaLusZbSw7NmaoEkgBnZQW4QoHd0AwpNGQ4lfJUkPqjDX8JaboPekl05twAIzSlT05dhTvwt8K08tZGtz1IMr6uTc87Ly0EVnky2x_jpXKN16MfXp_PsgDElLnYcy44U9/s1600/abt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqoKuY-MuBx27yaLusZbSw7NmaoEkgBnZQW4QoHd0AwpNGQ4lfJUkPqjDX8JaboPekl05twAIzSlT05dhTvwt8K08tZGtz1IMr6uTc87Ly0EVnky2x_jpXKN16MfXp_PsgDElLnYcy44U9/s1600/abt.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thomas Abt, Deputy Secretary for Public Safety, New York State</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thomas Abt, the Governor's Deputy Secretary for Public Safety, called the work of the Reentry Task Forces" a special type of public service" and communicated his priorities for enhancing public safety: behavior change of high risk individuals via cognitive behavioral interventions and the <a href="http://www.nij.gov/topics/corrections/community/drug-offenders/Pages/hawaii-hope.aspx" target="_blank">power of swift and certain sanctions</a>. He also introduced a new project called, RESET (more to come!), which will be a fundamental shift in way the parole supervision takes place in the state. Additionally, Mr.Abt announced the creation of the Governor's new Reentry Council, which, will examine the thousands of collateral consequences to convictions and the "incredible cumulative effect" that is often "counterproductive" to our public safety goals. <br />
<br />
Before launching into panels that examined best reentry practices across the state, Tery Salo, DCJS Deputy Commissioner, reviewed the latest New York State Criminal Justice trends that many continue to describe as the "New York Miracle." Here are some of the most salient:<br />
<br />
Crime and Imprisonment Rates: <br />
<ul>
<li>New York State crime is down 62% since 1990, with NYC's crime rate dropping by 73%.</li>
<li>Violent crime is down 64% since 1990, with NYC's violent crime dropping 70% and the rest of the state dropping 36%.</li>
<li>Statewide all homicides are down 75%, with NYC's homicide rate dropping 85%.</li>
<li>Since 1990, NYS' crime rate has declined at a greater rate that the rest of the country. (64% versus 43%). </li>
<li>New York State has both the lowest crime rate and lowest imprisonment rate of any large state. (Texas has the highest crime rate with 3,770 per 100,000 individuals and New York with 2,329 per 100,000 individuals and the highest imprisonment rate with 606incarcerated per 100,000 individuals and New York with 276 per 1000,000 individuals.</li>
</ul>
Also dramatic is the decrease in felony drug related commitments and the increase in felony firearm commitments:<br />
<ul>
<li>Felony drug commitments to prison are down 40% from 2008, the year prior to the Rockefeller Drug Law Reform. Since the law change, incarceration of black men for felony drug convictions are down 40%. </li>
<li>In 2013, 76% of individuals who received felony firearm convictions were sentenced to prison, the highest reported ever. Contrast this with 55.7% of individuals who were sentenced to prison on similar charges in 2004. The increase can be attributed to the increase in penalties for firearm conviction in 2006 and the change in prosecutorial policy around firearms. </li>
</ul>
Most directly pertinent to our reentry work was the information conveyed regarding the recidivism risk of those who are returning from prison. Of those formerly incarcerated individuals who have been assessed using an actuarial risk assessment as "high" and "moderate" risk (the population the Task Forces serve), 54%/37% respectively will be convicted of a new crime within 3 years, and 69%/43% respectively will be reconvicted within 5 years. For this reason, it is especially important that the Task Forces target higher risk offenders. (We also know that lower risk populations tend to do worse with more interventions!) As Ms. Salo remarked, if the Task Forces can eliminate the recidivism of 10% of 1,000 high risk individuals (69% of whom would otherwise return to prison within 5 years) we have 69 fewer individuals going back to prison and 179 crimes avoided (higher risk individuals tend to be more criminally active than lower risk populations). <br />
<br />
For more information on evidence based practices in recidivism reduction, click <a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/research/evidence-based-strategies-working-offenders?url=research%2F11%2Fall&mode=11&type=all&page=5" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
<br />
<em>Debbie Boar, Deputy Project Director, Harlem Community Justice Center, and Manhattan County Reentry Task Force Coordinator</em><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-44060824382672767412014-04-25T21:44:00.000-04:002014-04-25T21:44:25.998-04:00The Role of the Criminal Justice System in Decriminalization of the Homeless<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU9wO384lk59j9PGR1Nz3N16R1fPrMFYbcLZI_GkXPSIuk1a0qQlVumRDxCdpsK6T2YPZlgz3iCQ1TPHrvQktVVt73_igpcrSVctwhBEebeSS46hSmCBmlvLEhna_PSr55jlYB8sBbFDAk/s1600/Gordon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU9wO384lk59j9PGR1Nz3N16R1fPrMFYbcLZI_GkXPSIuk1a0qQlVumRDxCdpsK6T2YPZlgz3iCQ1TPHrvQktVVt73_igpcrSVctwhBEebeSS46hSmCBmlvLEhna_PSr55jlYB8sBbFDAk/s1600/Gordon.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hon. Gordon Baranco, Superior Court of Alameda County, CA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are 610,000 people who are homeless on any given day in the United States, according to a <a href="http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/snapshot_of_homelessness" target="_blank">National Alliance to End Homelessness Report</a>. Approximately, 222,000 are in families and 109,000, about 18%, are chronically homeless. Veterans make up about 9% of the homeless population nationally, according to the Alliance.<br />
<br />
This issue of was addressed at an all day forum entitled: <a href="http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/events/homelessness_poverty/2014_aoc_homelessness_summit.authcheckdam.pdf" target="_blank">Ending Criminalization of the Homeless: The Role of Courts, Lawyers and Advocates. </a>Hosted by the American Bar Association, California Administrative Office of the Courts and Center for Court Innovation, the forum took place in San Francisco after the International Community Justice Summit.<br />
<br />
You can link to some of the summit materials below:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/homelessness_poverty/resolution117.authcheckdam.pdf" target="_blank">American Bar Association Resolution on the Right to Housing</a><br />
<br />
American Bar Association Recommendations on <a href="http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/homeless/PublicDocuments/Decriminalization_of_homelessness_policy.authcheckdam.pdf" target="_blank">Housing and Community Development</a><br />
<br />
Veterans Administration Reentry <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKbu5C1tx2w" target="_blank">Video</a><br />
<br />
Veterans Administration Homeless Message from Secretary Shinseki <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJyuUq1AVVo" target="_blank">Video</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
By Christopher Watler, Project Director-Harlem Community Justice Center<br />
<br />
<i>I am blogging from the <a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/community-justice-2014" target="_blank">2014 International Community Court Summit</a> in San Francisco this week. The Summit is co-organized by the <a href="http://www.courts.ca.gov/policyadmin-aoc.htm" target="_blank">California Administrative Office of the Courts </a>and the<a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/" target="_blank"> Center for Court Innovation</a>, with support from the <a href="https://www.bja.gov/" target="_blank">U.S Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance</a> and the <a href="http://www.calendow.org/" target="_blank">California Endowment</a>. Follow the conference on twitter #communityjustice2014</i><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-15196616834692571302014-04-25T14:45:00.000-04:002014-04-25T14:45:08.623-04:00Dr. Ed. Latessa on Evidence-Based Practices <div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy5NB8FLnihFQYf5asb2o8cm4p2g3hfdeD3AuAIIssHL-FF9HX8ziEdleMVDQCJZD9M9JNHy7-sWdiD1eWn-KEH0H3JJTO1d9ZefARwVn4klPy-45ERrchDrt0v-bXt40dRsbN3Bbq_bsD/s1600/latessa+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy5NB8FLnihFQYf5asb2o8cm4p2g3hfdeD3AuAIIssHL-FF9HX8ziEdleMVDQCJZD9M9JNHy7-sWdiD1eWn-KEH0H3JJTO1d9ZefARwVn4klPy-45ERrchDrt0v-bXt40dRsbN3Bbq_bsD/s1600/latessa+pic.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://cech.uc.edu/criminaljustice/employees.html?eid=latessej" target="_blank">Dr. Ed Latessa</a>, a national expert on evidence-based practices in the criminal justice arena, addressed the 2014 International Community Justice Summit. Dr. Latessa described core lessons from years of research around reducing recidivism. Here are some highlights for practitioners who are designing interventions for criminal justice populations:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lesson 1: Some things don’t work! Dr Latessa highlighted correctional boot camps, shame-based programs, and talk therapy approaches as ineffective for justice-involved persons. Failure to implement evidence-based programs with fidelity can also lead to poor recidivism outcomes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lesson 2: Almost everything you want to fix starts with an assessment. Actuarial risks and needs assessment tools target the right clients for the right interventions. These tools also help us to know what is working to reduce recidivism. There has been a proliferation of assessment tools recently. According to Dr. Latessa, "what tool you use matters less than how well you use it." These tools help us understand both static risk factors, but more importantly, dynamic risk factors that can be changed through effective interventions. Some dynamic factors can change quickly, like employment, while others take longer to change, like criminal thinking. </div>
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Lesson 3: If you want to reduce recidivism focus on the
people most likely to reactivate. Programs that work for high risk offenders produce
opposite effects for low risk offenders. </div>
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Lesson 4: Sometimes we fail because we don’t provide enough
treatment (Dosage). Most studies show that the longer in treatment the greater the
effects, yet positive effects diminish if treatment goes too long. It is important to get the dosage right; another reason that good assessment is critical.</div>
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Lesson 5: Everyone thinks they are an expert on criminal
behavior. This leads to a lot of misguided advice and policies. Too often, according to Dr. Latessa, professional training determines what we focus on in criminal justice agencies. Crime is
an area where everyone thinks they intuitively know what should be done. For example, Dr. Latessa talked about criminal justice agencies focusing on knowing a client's criminal friends without assessing if any of their associates might be a pro-social influence who can support a cleint's re-integration. </div>
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Lesson 6: We Need to target multiple risk factors.The more <a href="http://ojj.la.gov/ojj/files/What_Are_Criminogenic_Needs.pdf" target="_blank">criminogenic needs</a> you target the better results a client and program can achieve. </div>
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Lesson 8: We can change offender behavior if we go about it
the right way. Social learning is much more powerful than talk therapy. The best strategies focus on structured social learning, and cognitive behavioral approaches.Social learning theory of human behavior recognizes that we don’t just learn good things, we learn bad things in our lives. If we can change the way a person thinks about a challenges or what they think they know, we can change their behavior.</div>
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Dr Latessa encouraged programs to develop their own data on the population they are serving. This helps on-going program development and continuous improvement efforts. Programs also need effective leadership and good quality assurance to implement evidence-based practices with fidelity.<br />
<br />
By Christopher Watler, Project Director-Harlem Community Justice Center<br />
<br />
<i>I am blogging from the <a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/community-justice-2014" target="_blank">2014 International Community Court Summit</a> in San Francisco this week. The Summit is co-organized by the <a href="http://www.courts.ca.gov/policyadmin-aoc.htm" target="_blank">California Administrative Office of the Courts </a>and the<a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/" target="_blank"> Center for Court Innovation</a>, with support from the <a href="https://www.bja.gov/" target="_blank">U.S Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance</a> and the <a href="http://www.calendow.org/" target="_blank">California Endowment</a>. Follow the conference on twitter #communityjustice2014</i><br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-31717466576043265062014-04-22T15:09:00.002-04:002014-04-22T16:42:23.064-04:00California Re-AlignmentI spent the yesterday at a California Reentry Courts Summit in San Francisco. California is in the midst of a major"realignment" of its corrections system that devolves responsibility for the incarceration of certain offender categories to counties. This is in response to a federal court order that California reduce overcrowding in state prisons, which was later<a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4913884626785841743&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr" target="_blank"> affirmed by the U.S Supreme Court</a>. At its height, California's prisons were housing just over 170,000 persons, including 47,000 persons on parole who were cycling into the system every 90 days on a parole violation. In 2011 Governor Brown signed <a href="http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/realignment/docs/realignment-fact-sheet.pdf" target="_blank">AB 109</a> into law setting in motion a major movement towards reducing overcrowding.<br />
<br />
Reentry Courts are one strategy that counties are using to address prison overcrowding under AB 109. Reentry Courts are a collaborative, problem-solving approach that enhances community supervision for persons on parole who are at moderate to high risk of re-offending. Under California's plan, Reentry Courts will address parole violations in each county and high risk persons with drug or mental health needs. County courts can also sentence persons to split sentences which require a minimum amount of jail time on state charges, with the rest of the time served in the community under court supervision.<br />
<br />
Local collaboration is key to this effort. The Law requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, probation and parole to work with the State Courts to reduce recidivism. This is an unusual partnership, judges have little experience working directly with corrections officials and parole.Yet, judges are going to play a major role in driving down incarceration rates.<br />
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It was clear from the presentations and questions that important challenges remain. While re-alignment will bring some additional resources to counties, counties that fail to reduce recidivism will see their reimbursement rate from the state shrink. So counties could face local jail overcrowding if their approach is not successful.<br />
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Probation will play a critical role on the local planning teams as the provider of services. While this makes sense given probation's role in the justice system, county probation departments will require additional resources and expertise in evidence-based approaches to be successful in the long run.<br />
<br />
Another key challenge : judges will need more training on evidence-based corrections practices. As the leader of the local collaborations, judges must hold other key stakeholders accountable for outcomes. They need to have an in-dept understanding of what works to address <a href="http://www.cepp.com/documents/Implementing%20Evidence%20Based%20Practices.pdf" target="_blank">criminogenic risks and need</a>s. <br />
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Despite these challenges, realignment, if successful, could provide a model for other states seeking to drive down their incarceration rates. Reentry Courts in particular could benefit from this opportunity to test their efficacy. Early results are promising. The Reentry Courts are dealing with the highest risk participants, according to two researchers. They report that:<br />
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<ul>
<li>99% of all reentry court clients have a substance abuse need, 45% of these clients have been suing drugs for 20 or more years</li>
<li> 73% have a mental health classification from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation</li>
<li>86% are unemployed</li>
<li>41% are on public assistance</li>
<li>77% have been assessed at high risk of recidivism</li>
</ul>
Early outcomes are positive. California reentry courts have fewer re-convictions and reentry court clients spend fewer days incarcerated.<br />
<br />
It is still early in the re-alignment process. It was great seeing judges, corrections leaders and probation and parole leaders all talking about how they are going to work together to improve public safety and reduce incarceration. .<br />
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By Christopher Watler, Project Director-Harlem Community Justice Center<br />
<br />
<i>I am blogging from the <a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/community-justice-2014" target="_blank">2014 International Community Court Summit</a> in San Francisco this week. The Summit is co-organized by the <a href="http://www.courts.ca.gov/policyadmin-aoc.htm" target="_blank">California Administrative Office of the Courts </a>and the<a href="http://www.courtinnovation.org/" target="_blank"> Center for Court Innovation</a>, with support from the <a href="https://www.bja.gov/" target="_blank">U.S Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance</a> and the <a href="http://www.calendow.org/" target="_blank">California Endowment</a>. Follow the conference on twitter #communityjustice2014</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5601320008076081171.post-52743654544904211782014-04-07T14:06:00.002-04:002014-04-07T14:08:05.705-04:00The Myth of the "Super Predator"<br />
<br />
This NY Times<a href="about:invalid#zClosurez" target="_blank"> video</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/us/politics/killing-on-bus-recalls-superpredator-threat-of-90s.html" target="_blank">article</a> should serve as a stark reminder of how criminal justice policy can go very wrong with terrible consequences. Predictions of "super predator" juveniles in the early 1990s led immediately to a cultural, political and legal firestorm that sucked millions of youth into the justice system. It was based on poor social science that joined up with American's existing racial caste system to further fuel mass incarceration primarily on the back of youth of color.<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you have inquiries about the Manhattan Reentry Task Force, please contact:
Debbie Boar
Task Force Coordinator
Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street
New York, NY 10035
dboar@courts.state.ny.us
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02149426933168489726noreply@blogger.com