Individuals often endure deportation proceedings in isolation, but it doesn’t have to be this way. The stories of Steve Li and Laibar Singh show what is possible when communities mobilize in response.
Politics & Society
Why “Voting Rights, NO, Gay Marriage, YES” from the Supreme Court?
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The Supreme Court’s decision on voting rights reminds us that racism against Blacks remains far more deeply implanted in America’s economic and political institutions, and in the consciousness of many Americans, than the horrendous homophobia that may now be somewhat receding. Yet it is also a testimony to those in the gay world who refused to be “realistic” when told that gay marriage was unthinkable. We need that same kind of unrealistic thinking to revive the necessary struggle against American racism.
Articles
The Criminal Caste
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The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, Review by Ben Bloch
Editorials & Actions
Justice as Grand Strategy: The Missing Dimension in American Foreign Policy Toward the Muslim World
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Editor’s note: Robert Crane raises an important issue in the article below. I think the notion of a substantive concept of justice is very important, though I do not think that the way Crane fills this in is satisfactory. Crane believes in other of his writings that justice requires a right to private property–I hold the Torah’s conception that the whole world belongs to God and that no one has “a right” to land or property, all of which is given to us only on condition that we use it to serve each other and God in a love-filled and generous way. But the issue Crane raises deserves our attention.–Rabbi Michael Lerner
Justice as Grand Strategy: The Missing Dimension in American Foreign Policy Toward the Muslim World
by Dr. Robert Dickson Crane
The ancient Roman philosopher, Cicero, wisely advised that before one begins to discuss anything whatsoever one should first define terms. This would apply to perspectives and entire paradigms of thought. Perhaps the most illusive words in the world today are the terms “American” and “Muslim World”.
Was there, is there, and can there be an essence of America that constitutes its identity? This issue of identity is developed by Seyyed Hossein Nasr in his recent book, The Garden of Truth: Vision and Promise. He begins by generalizing that humans, both as individuals and as communities, act according to the image they have of themselves.
Justice & Prisons
Dark Days with the Dark Knight
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We are the beneficiaries of the most advanced audiovisual systems ever known, capable of moving our emotions, challenging our ideas, and opening our imaginations. Is it right that the most technologically sophisticated and financially expensive products of this system are entertainments like the Batman movies, designed to deliver their gratifications not to the mind but to the gut?
Politics & Society
Military Madness and PFC Manning
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Webs of blinding irony are being spun around Private First Class Manning, obscuring the military’s methodical denial of Manning’s constitutionally guaranteed right to a fair trial.
Articles
A Restorative Circle in the Wake of a Police Shooting
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In Seattle, distance, anger, and pain remain from decades of command and control policing. The success of the Williams Restorative Circle fuels the promise that we can address that painful history, find mutual understanding, ensure accountability, and find a sense of well being and trust in agreed-upon actions moving forward.
Politics & Society
Manhood and Violence
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We want new men in our classes. We’re recruiting — like the marines — a few good men who’ll help build a movement of folks who see that being intimate, empathic, and warm is a better way to raise our kids and get along with each other.
27.1 Winter
How Super Is Superhero Justice?
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To be sure, there are times when superheroes question the justice systems they supposedly serve, and it is precisely such exceptions that provide meaningful commentary on our own justice systems.
Politics & Society
The Fight Room
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Rather than being dangerous, conflict holds within it vital messages regarding unmet needs and areas of necessary change. Given this understanding, safety is increased not by avoiding conflict, but by moving toward it with the intention of hearing the messages within.
Articles
Twenty Years of Restorative Justice in New Zealand
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It is not suitable in all cases, but with some principled support and seed funding, restorative justice could easily change the landscape of the criminal justice system in most common law jurisdictions.
2012
Learning from Rwanda
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The Rwandan approach makes restorative justice an ongoing multisector process embedded in the realistic realization that post-genocide healing never ends; rather, this healing is the lifelong multigenerational endeavor of people to work through their pains of tragic loss informally through living together.
2012
The Day the Jail Walls Cracked: A Restorative Plea Deal
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When I got the call from Howard Zehr, I balked at the idea. “In a capital case? He shot her in the head? No chance, Howard.” As I listened to the Grosmaires’ story of seemingly impossible love and forgiveness, my feeling that nothing could be done started to shift. “If God forgives us, how can we not forgive Conor?” Andy asked.
2012
Poetry in the Age of Mass Incarceration
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As a result of the transformation of America into an incarceration nation, the now-bursting prisons have become hotbeds of testimony, poetry, art-making, and speechifying. The books of Reginald Dwanye Betts, which are part of this flood of prison-based testimony, recount the tale of a young man who entered prison as a confused sixteen-year-old but who now, more than a decade later, has embarked on a career as a writer.