Resources :: Rethinking the Prison System
American Civil Liberties Union | Safe Communities, Fair Sentences
America’s criminal justice system should keep communities safe, treat people fairly, and use fiscal resources wisely. But more Americans are deprived of their liberty than ever before - unfairly and unnecessarily, with no benefit to public safety.
The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University to assist prisoners who could be proven innocent through DNA testing.
The Reclaiming Futures model unites juvenile courts, probation, adolescent substance abuse treatment, and the community to reclaim youth. Together, they work to improve drug and alcohol treatment and connect teens to positive activities and caring adults. While we need to hold teens accountable for their actions, simply locking them up isn’t effective. Young people in the juvenile justice system need more treatment, better treatment, and beyond treatment.
Perspectives on the U.S. Criminal Justice System- Even as the crime rate is dropping, the criminal justice system continues to grow. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, there will be 30 new federal prisons built over the next 7 years. Throughout this unprecedented growth, there have been few opportunities for critical examination of what is working and what isn't. The project generates ideas, big and small, about how we can reduce crime and strengthen our communities without continuing this unprecedented rate of incarceration.
Models for Change is a national initiative to accelerate reform of juvenile justice systems across the country. Focused on efforts in select states, the initiative aims to create replicable models for reform that effectively hold young people accountable for their actions, provide for their rehabilitation, protect them from harm, increase their life chances, and manage the risk they pose to themselves and to public safety.
The Sentencing Project is a national organization working for a fair and effective criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing law and practice, and alternatives to incarceration.
The Center for Court Innovation's work begins with a commitment to data and analysis. The Center studies problems within communities and within government systems. It uses this information to inform the development of demonstration projects. Researchers from the Center also conduct process and impact evaluations to document what works and what doesn't in justice reform.
In 2009 the New York State Senate announced a new initiative, Operation SNUG, “which creates a cooperative program between anti-violence community groups and local law enforcement to inhibit the proliferation of gangs and illegal guns.” This program model provides outreach, prevention and intervention services to direct young people who live within known hotspots for gang like violence away from illegal guns, gang participation and activity and street level violence – especially gun related violence.
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