Tag Archives: Community-based Justice

“An Interview with Robert Bullard” by Errol Schweizer, Earth First! Journal, 1999

September 24, 2019 6:28 pm /

Submitted by: Suzanne Oboler, Professor, Latin American and Latinx Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

To read online, click here: “An Interview with Robert Bullard”
Robert Bullard is a pioneering scholar-activist in the environmental justice movement. He  is often described as the father of environmental justice. He is the former Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University 2011-2016. Professor Bullard currently is Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy. Prior to coming to TSU he was founding Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. He received his Ph.D. degree from Iowa State University. He is an award-winning author of eighteen books that address sustainable development, environmental racism, urban land use, industrial facility siting, community reinvestment, housing, transportation, climate justice, disasters, emergency response, and community resilience, smart growth, and regional equity. He is co-founder of the HBCU Climate Change Consortium. Dr. Bullard is a proud U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
An Interview with Robert Bullard. By  Errol Schweizer.  Earth First! Journal (July 1999) https://www.ejnet.org/ej/bullard.html.
The interview was posted and retrieved from The Environmental Justice Organizations website. It is in the public domain.
Posted in: 1990-1999, Part 1: Texts for Teaching and Learning about Justice, US / Tagged: , , , ,

The Movement for Black Lives: Platform, 2014

September 23, 2019 10:30 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

Click here for: Platform for Black Lives.

“The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) is a coalition of groups across the U.S. which represent the interests of black communities. It was formed in 2014 as a response to sustained and increasingly visible violence against black communities, with the purpose of creating a united front and establishing a political platform. The collective is made up of more than 150 organizations, with members such as the Black Lives Matter Network, the National Conference of Black Lawyers, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and endorsement from groups including Color of Change, Race Forward, Brooklyn Movement Center, PolicyLink, Million Women March Cleveland, and ONE DC. In response to the sustained and increasingly visible violence against Black communities in the U.S. and globally, a collective of organizations representing thousands of Black people from across the country have come together with renewed energy and purpose to articulate a common vision and agenda. Our resistance and rebellion are not new, but like other times in history have come to a critical mass, and the bravery of those in Ferguson and across the country captured the attention of the world. A year ago, over 2,000 of us gathered in Cleveland to reflect on the state of our movement for liberation and celebrate our people, both those who have fallen and those who have survived. It was there that we began the process of uniting to articulate a shared vision of the world we want to live in.”

This link is to the organization’s website. It is in the public domain.

Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , ,

“From Bars to Freedom: Prisoner Co-ops Boost Employment, Self-Esteem, and Support Reentry into Society” by Meegan Moriarity, 2016

September 23, 2019 7:47 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

Moriarity, Meegan. 2016. “From Bars to Freedom: Prisoner Co-ops Boost Employment, Self-Esteem, and Support Reentry into Society.” Rural Cooperatives Vol. 83 No. 1 (January-February), pp.14-18, 37. see pages 14-19 in this Rural Cooperatives issue.

To read online, click here: “From Bars to Freedom: Prisoner Co-ops Boost Employment, Self-Esteem, and Support Reentry into Society.”  Scroll to article on page 14.

From bars to freedom: prisoner co-ops boost employment, self-esteem and support re-entry into society: artists create, exhibit and sell their work through Cooperativa de Servidos ARIGOS in Puerto Rico. At the Shifting Gears bike shop in Stevens Point, Wis., skilled mechanics tune-up, refurbish and sell pre-owned bicycles while educating the community on biking’s beneficial impact on health and the environment. At the Cooperativa Alice in Milan, Italy, women create costumes for television and theater, design clothing and make uniforms for the local football team. Caterers and chefs feed customers at the Cafe Solberg in Gotenberg, Sweden. These business organizations may be diverse, but they have a few things in common. All of them are cooperatives. And all of them benefit prisoners or ex-prisoners.

This article was retrieved from a government website and is in the public domain.

Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , ,

“The Next Step: Indigenous Development of Neighborhood-Restorative Community Justice” by Gilbert and Settles, 2007

September 23, 2019 7:14 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

Gilbert, Michael J.; Settles, Tanya L. The Next Step: Indigenous Development of Neighborhood-Restorative Community Justice. Criminal Justice Review, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 5-25, March 2007.

To read online, click here: “The Next Step: Indigenous Development of Neighborhood-Restorative Community Justice”

The challenge for modern crime-control policies is that they must work simultaneously across multiple environments within communities that are characterized by overlapping needs, issues, and service providers. Policy responses to crime must do more than capture and punish criminals, because crime is a deeply embedded social problem, and effective crime control requires more than a traditional justice system can offer. This article explores the effect of blending the theoretical underpinnings of restorative and community justice as an indigenous product of neighborhoods. Indigenous neighborhood processes may be able to address institutional and social structure problems to improve the quality of life for area residents and restorative outcomes for victims, the community, and the offender.

This is a library resource. Access using  John Jay login and password.

Posted in: 2000 - 2010, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , ,

“Working Together: How a Neighborhood Justice Center in Harlem is Building Bridges and Improving Safety” by Carolyn Turgeon, 2006

September 23, 2019 5:38 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

To read online, click here: “Working Together: How a Neighborhood Justice Center in Harlem is Building Bridges and Improving Safety.”

Turgeon, Carolyn. 2006. “Working Together: How a Neighborhood Justice Center in Harlem is Building Bridges and Improving Safety.” New York: Center for Court Innovation (public/private partnership with the NY State Unified Court System).

The Harlem Courthouse has towered over East 121st Street since the late 1800s – stately and elaborate, with arched windows and soaring pinnacles. Until 1961, the courthouse housed the Municipal and Magistrate’s Courts; after New York City’s courts were centralized, the building fell into disuse and was largely forgotten. Decades later, when court planners were looking for a location for a new community court, the courthouse – with its ornate architecture and status as a once vital community institution – seemed an ideal location. Today, the Harlem Courthouse is again a vibrant neighborhood resource. Gone are the boarded up windows, empty courtrooms, and unused office space. Instead, the courthouse is home to an unusual experiment in neighborhood justice, the Harlem Community Justice Center. The center features a multi-jurisdictional courtroom that hears a mix of Family and Housing Court cases, along with an array of unconventional programs – including mediation, community service, and reentry initiatives – that extend the Justice Center’s reach well beyond the courtroom doors. While a traditional court usually has one heartbeat, as the center’s former director Raye Barbieri puts it, the Harlem court ‘has dozens’. This paper tells the story of this unique experiment in community justice, from planning to ongoing operations. Along the way, it highlights the key lessons of the Harlem experience, offering vivid testimony that a court and community can work together to spur neighborhood renewal.

This is a library resource. Access by using John Jay login and password.

Posted in: 2000 - 2010, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , ,

“Incorporating Restorative and Community Justice into American Sentencing and Corrections” by Leena Kurki, 1999

September 20, 2019 10:26 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

To read online, click here: “Incorporating Restorative and Community Justice into American Sentencing and Corrections.”

The article states: “Programs based on restorative and community justice principles have proliferated in the United States over the past decade simultaneously with tough-on-crime initiatives like three-strikes, truth-in-sentencing, and mandatory minimum laws. Restorative justice and community justice represent new ways of thinking about crime. The theories underlying restorative justice suggest that government should surrender its monopoly over responses to crime to those most directly affected—the victim, the offender, and the community.”

This article was retrieved from a government website (www.ncjrs.gov) and is in the public domain. It was published online in Sentencing & Corrections No. 3 (September, 1999), pp. 1-11 (U.S. Department of Justice).

Posted in: 1990-1999, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , ,

“Structural Racism and Community Building” by Lawrence Keith, et al., 2004

September 20, 2019 5:29 pm /

Submitted by:  Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

To read online, click here: “Structural Racism and Community Building”

This submission is from the Aspen Institute: Lawrence, Keith, Stacey Sutton, Anne Kubisch, Gretchen Susi and Karen Fulbright-Anderson. 2004. “Structural Racism and Community Building.” Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change. Washington, D.C.: The Aspen Institute.

Since 1997, the Roundtable has been focusing on how the problems associated with race and racism in America affect initiatives aimed at poverty reduction in distressed urban neighborhoods. The Roundtable has explored how race shapes the social, political, economic, and cultural institutions of our society, and how those dynamics produce significant and ongoing racial disparities in the well-being of children, families, and communities. The work also has an applied dimension that describes how to incorporate
racial equity into social and economic development work. The premise behind all of the Roundtable’s work on race is that adopting a more race conscious approach to community building and social justice work.

This resource was found on the Internet at the Aspen Institute organization website. Use for educational purposes under the Fair Use Provision.

Posted in: 2000 - 2010, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , ,

“Theorizing and Teaching Democratic Community Economics: Engaged Scholarship, Economic Justice, and the Academy” by Jessica Gordon Nembhard, 2008

September 20, 2019 4:27 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

To read online: “Theorizing and Teaching Democratic Community Economics: Engaged Scholarship, Economic Justice, and the Academy.”

This chapter is from the book: “Engaging Contradictions: Theory, Politics and Methods of Activist Scholarship”, edited by Charles R. Hale, pp. 265-297. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

The editor says:

“Scholars in many fields increasingly find themselves caught between the academy, with its demands for rigor and objectivity, and direct engagement in social activism. Some advocate on behalf of the communities they study; others incorporate the knowledge and leadership of their informants directly into the process of knowledge production. What ethical, political, and practical tensions arise in the course of such work? In this wide-ranging and multidisciplinary volume, leading scholar-activists map the terrain on which political engagement and academic rigor meet.”

Dr. Gordon-Nembhard is a political economist specializing in community economics, Black Political Economy and popular economic literacy. Her research and publications explore problematics and alternative solutions in cooperative economic development and worker ownership, community economic development, wealth inequality and community-based asset building, and community-based approaches to justice.

This chapter was used with the author’s permission.

Posted in: 2000 - 2010, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , ,

“Community Policing and Community Justice” The 27th Annual Lloyd George Sealy Lecture, keynote address”, by Kenton Buckner, 2018

August 20, 2019 3:46 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

To view and listen online:  “Community Policing and Community Justice”

This keynote speech was presented by: The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and the Department of Africana Studies, in partnership with the Lloyd George Sealy Library, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Moving Toward Community Justice in the 21st Century, The 27th Annual Lloyd George Sealy Lecture, Speaker: Kenton Buckner, Chief of Police, Little Rock Police Department. Chief Buckner is a “student of the law profession” who took the time to learn all areas of policing.

This MP3 speech was obtained from a John Jay faculty Dropbox and is open access.

Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , ,

“Witchcraft: A Human Rights Conflict Between Customary/Traditional Laws and the Legal Protection of Women in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa” by Maakor Quarmyne, 2011

July 19, 2019 10:50 pm /

Submitted by: Catherine Kemp, Associate Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Click to read online: Witchcraft: A Human Rights Conflict Between Customary/Traditional Laws and the Legal Protection of Women in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa

This article addresses the legal implications for women, particularly older women, in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. Part I explores the foundation for the belief in witchcraft and witchcraft’s place in and effect on the social ordering within communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Part II examines the clash of customary/traditional laws against state legal systems, mostly common and civil law traditions. Witchcraft historically fell under the jurisdiction of customary/traditional legal systems,’and, today, accused witches in sub-Saharan Africa have no specific legal or human rights protections under most state constitutions.’ State action is enough to protect these women, or whether specific rights are being violated under state laws. Part III follows with an analysis of various international treaties, principles, and norms and explores international law and human rights standards that could or should arguably protect this victimized class of women in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa

This is a library resource and can be accessed using the John Jay login credentials. This article is from the William & Mary Journal of Women & the Law.; Winter 2011, Vol. 17 Issue 2, p475-507,

Posted in: 2011 - Present, Africa, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL) / Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
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