Justice System Reform

Justice System Reform

No (More) Youth in the Criminal System

In its upcoming legislative session, the North Carolina General Assembly is poised to again take up a Republican-sponsored bill that would expose more youth to criminal prosecution…

Clean Slate Success in Durham

What is Clean Slate work and why is it important?
Involvement in the criminal justice system has negative side effects beyond a court case and…

Healthy Food Access, Where?

Which places do you envision “need access to nutritious food”?  Who do you believe has the right to access nutritious food? My guess is that…

UNC journalism students explore race class and education in Durham, NC

There is no direct means by which a student becomes a dropout, unemployed or a criminal; there is no single decision, policy or process directly…

Raise The Age: the importance of keeping children out of adult jail

On the heels of End Mass Incarceration (EMI) Week comes reenergized attention to the Raise the Age Movement in North Carolina. As explained in my…

Justice System Reform

Selina Garcia: Multi-System Failure

At 7:30 a.m. on a Friday morning, I began to receive a flurry of text messages from Selina, a 17-year-old high school student in Wake…

What did we learn during End Mass Incarceration Week?

From April 5-13, 2014, SCSJ joined other groups across the nation in observing End Mass Incarceration Week (EMI Week). SCSJ produced daily blog posts on…

From the daughter of a prisoner

For the final entry in our End Mass Incarceration Week blog series, SCSJ intern Nadiah Porter gives us an intimate look into her life growing…

Shocking police overreach haunts Southern city: Racial profiling, quotas and secret “conviction bonuses”

Shocking police overreach haunts Southern city: Racial profiling, quotas and secret “conviction bonuses”   How a federal grant incentivized a police department to go nuts…

Mass Incarceration & People of Color

Mass Incarceration & People of Color One in every 31 Americans is on probation, on parole, in jail or in prison. Distressingly, according to the…

Mass Incarceration of Juveniles: does putting children in jail solve anything?

Does putting children in jail solve anything? During a single year, an estimated 2.1 million youth under the age of 18 are arrested in the…

Isolation Kills: The Perils of Solitary Confinement

As public health and social justice practitioners, it seems obvious that putting someone in a cage – with no human contact or sensory stimulation –…