PostWidely content : Incarceration Prevention

"The number of Americans in state and federal prisons has quintupled since 1980."

Chicago Lawyers' Committee Civil Rights Fellow Shubra Ohri presents on the alternatives to incarceration.

It's one thing to be empathetic to the poor, with a degree of distance that too easily turns into condescension. It's another thing entirely to experience it yourself. This could dramatically change the narrative around "personal responsibility"- blaming poor people for their own poverty.

Should schools criminalize minor behavioral infractions that have a disproportionate effect on students of color and students with disabilities?

The disparity in suspensions between white and minority students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and in Illinois is extremely troubling. CPS has the right official policies, but doesn’t follow them. CPS should record and publish suspension and expulsion statistics school by school, with details like the race of the student and the nature of the offense, so that school administrators’ decisions can be analyzed and there can be accountability.

Truly an American Hero -- consistently fighting for this country to realize that children are categorically different than adults and should be treated accordingly.

On Saturday, June 23, the Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago held a gun turn-in event to get guns off the streets. I posted the event last week. As I mentioned, the procedure was as follows: "Turn in your gun and receive a $100 MasterCard gift card. No questions asked. Really. No questions." The event collected 5500 guns, of which only 700 were fake. The slogan for the event was "Don't Kill a Dream, Save a Life."

Chicago consistently has some of the worst gun violence numbers in the country. The Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago are fighting back with a gun turn-in event on Saturday, June 23 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Turn in your gun and receive a $100 MasterCard gift card. No questions asked. Really. No questions. This is not the first time the City has hosted such an event. As such, people should know about it, even those who do not own a gun. I think this is a very interesting way to fight crime violence. Thoughts?

University of Chicago law students are participating in some really valuable work through the Exoneration Project, a clinic that "engages law students in vital cases, representing prisoners convicted on flawed evidence." The program gives students experience in cases that a large number of full-time attorneys do not take. Moreover, it instills the importance of pro-bono work. Please read to find out how many convicts they have released since 2008! It is quite impressive.

Wrongful convictions are a serious problem that often affect low-income, minority residents of Cook County and Illinois. Cook County needs to take measures to rid the system of wrongful convictions and provide everyone with equal access to justice.

How will the United States embrace increased rates of diversity? My undergraduate political science professor, Samuel Stafford, once said that "the health of a nation is indicated by the way it treats its children." Will our nation ensure that each of these children has an equal opportunity to thrive? What role will you play in protecting the rights of these children?

Phenomenal work. We need more programs like this- as well as a concentrated, nation-wide push to eliminate questions about whether job candidates have criminal records in roles in which these would not be relevant, to allow them back into the legitimate economy and break the stigma of incarceration.

The disparate treatment of minority students in school discipline is not limited to Connecticut. Across the country, Black and Hispanic students are disproportionately suspended and expelled from school. This problem greatly impacts student achievement and school culture. Schools need to ensure that they are providing safe, welcoming, and nondiscriminatory environments for all students.

Same state, no fatalities in this case, conviction even though Stand Your Ground would have applied in her case. A pretty damning anecdote to prove the point that Stand Your Ground can be applied by the criminal justice system in a racially selective manner.

Criminalizing children's typical behavior makes children into criminals.