More and more art is challenging long-held assumptions about the criminal justice system WHEN THE INTERDISCIPLINARY artist Maria Gaspar was 12 years old, her teachers took her to jail. It was the early 1990s, in the era of Scared Straight programs aimed at curbing juvenile delinquency, and Gaspar and her classmates were deemed “at risk,” by virtue … read more
Archives for October 2022
Justice
Latin Roots The word justice is derived from the Latin words jungere (to bind, to tie together) and jus (a bond or tie), reflective of a conjoined notion that functions as a tool to organize people into groups and distribute each person his or her due share of rights and duties, rewards and punishments. The … read more
He Was Innocent. He Served Eight Years Anyway
It didn’t matter that he was innocent. That the waitress whose restaurant he allegedly robbed identified him from a photo lineup, then recanted her testimony on the witness stand. That the prosecution offered to drop the weapons possession charge against the restaurant’s cook if he fingered him as the robber. That the judge would not … read more
Necessary Change
A Flawed System For quite some time, when it comes to public safety, we have accredited success to the number of individuals put behind bars. Such a procedure has not by definition made our communities safer. It has, undoubtedly, ignited a detonation in both the prison population and its corresponding costs. Research demonstrates that for … read more
