Justice: Extending the Conversation

Title: Justice: Extending the Conversation
What: Lay Academy Class
When: Wednesdays, Sept. 16 – Oct. 21, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Room 305
Next Class Date: Sept 30
Topic: Florida Public Defense
Speakers: Manny Garcia, Public Defender, and Andy Thomas, Chief Assistant Public Defender
Coordinator: Rev. Barbara Hynes
Handout: Handout Justice #1

Recent events and our growing prison system have caused many to look at our criminal justice system and consider the justice issues involved—particularly for people of minority populations and especially for young African American males. To help extend that conversation, we have invited persons who have worked directly with these issues to speak to us. They will address concerns about our present system from the aspects of public defense and prosecution, rehabilitation, restoration of rights, ministering to those incarcerated, and will provide some honest extended conversations about the need for racial justice in our country today.

Resources
Books

• Alexander, Michelle and Cornel West. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: The New Press, 2012.
• Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015.
  Review: New York Times
• Douglas, Kelly Brown. Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God. New York: Orbis Books, 2015.
  Johnson, Byron. More God, Less Crime: Why Faith Matters and How It Could Matter More. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press, 2011.
• Francis, Leah Gunning. Ferguson & Faith: Sparking Leadership & Awakening Community. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2015.
• Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. New York: Spiegal & Grau, 2015.
  Review: New York Times

Journal Articles, and Other Documents

• The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration
  Article by Ta-Nehisi Coates from The Atlantic, October 2015
• Failure Factories
• Link Juvenile Justice Funding to Performance
• No Place for a Child: Children in the Adult Criminal Justice System
• Moynihan, Mass Incarceration, and Responsibility
  Article by Ta-Nehisi Coates from The Atlantic, September 2015
• OJJDP FY 2015 Juvenile Justice Model Data Project
• OJJDP FY 2015 Police and Youth
• Engagement: Supporting the Role of Law Enforcement in Juvenile Justice Reform

Interviews

• A Conversation with My Black Son (New York Times)
• A Conversation about Growing Up Black (New York Times)
• Interview with Bryan Stevenson (Fresh Air)

Mixed Media

• The New Jim Crow
  This site provides links to televised interviews, radio interviews and print media reviews

Organizations

• • Brennan Center for Justice
  • Campaign for Youth Justice
  • The Coalition for Public Safety
  • Fair Sentencing and Fair Changes Campaign
  • Faith and Character Based Residential Programs
  • Florida Department of Corrections
  • Florida Department of Juvenile Justice
  • Florida Institute of Government Project on Accountable Justice
  • The James Madison Institute
  • Justice Reinvestment
  • The International Juvenile Justice Observatory
  • League of Women Voters of Florida
  • Right on Crime
  • The Sentencing Project: Research for Advocacy and Reform
    Established in 1986, The Sentencing Project works for a fair and effective U.S. criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing policy, addressing unjust racial disparities and practices, and advocating for alternatives to incarceration.
  • Smart Justice Alliance (Florida)
  • Southern Poverty Law Center
  • Texas Public Policy Foundation

Send links to resources to post to Pam Crosby.