Restorative justice initiatives are taking hold in several institutional settings, especially Catholic institutions and groups. Restorative justice goes deeper than punishment; it involves a search for understanding.
We say: The recent release of nearly 500 inmates from Oklahoma state prisons is a sign of a basic American distrust of one-size-fits-all sentencing with no room for a judge's discretion or compassion.
"The Visiting Room," a play written and performed by women who were in prison, is designed to break down barriers — starting with the "fourth wall" that separates performers from audience.
The Field Hospital: Louisville meeting on abuse crisis to complement the bishops' in Rome; projects help formerly incarcerated; guidance on becoming a sanctuary church for immigrants.
NCR Today: The sentences that come from mandatory minimums don't rehabilitate or prepare the person for work and family reunification. They just punish and punish and punish.
NCR Today: I have a meeting tomorrow with the chief of staff of the newly elected speaker of the Missouri House. What ideas for criminal justice reform have a chance?
NCR Today - The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee is asking people to speak up on conditions at South Carolina's Lieber Correctional Institution. I made the call.
Movie review: Documentary focuses on the mandatory sentence that Cindy Shank received for the drug crimes of a former boyfriend, and how the severity of it affected her family.
