On February 22, I witnessed something extraordinary at Journey’s third-year celebration—a gathering that transcended typical nonprofit events and revealed the profound impact of authentic criminal justice reform. Journey, born from the vision of a formerly incarcerated person, opened their presentation with North Carolina’s state motto: “Esse Quam Videri” (To be, rather than to seem). By … read more
Injustice
Throughout our criminal justice system, injustice is so pervasive it makes you question whether it's a bug or a feature.
It comes in many forms from institutional bias, to rushing to judgment, to discriminatory laws, to wrongful incarceration, to unfair and unequal sentencing, to police and prosecutorial misconduct, to racism, to the effects of money, and that's just scratching the surface. Sometimes injustice happens simply because of mistakes.
Can we ever stamp it out completely? Maybe not, but we can certainly make a better effort.
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
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
