Jessica is a single mom who was accused of robbery. She is being detained in prison before and during trial as she cannot post bail. This has upended her life; she is now separated from her young son, and she has lost her job. She fears that her involvement with the criminal justice system will decrease her prospects for finding a job, and she worries about housing instability. Unable to afford a lawyer, she turns to Restoring Justice, hoping that someone will listen to her and defend her case as well as help her and her family find stability in … Continue reading Immerse: Team Restoring Justice

This week, our team outlined our prior knowledge about the overarching issue of mass incarceration, including facts and personal experiences/connections. We furthermore identified and unpacked our existing assumptions, including that people largely believe that those in prison have definitely done something immoral and/or are more dangerous. People also generally think that putting people in makes their community safer. Implicit bias leads people to associate fear and anger with incarcerated individuals. Exploring our assumptions and prior knowledge enabled us to identify 4-5 problem spaces that represented more specific facets of the problem—racial bias; misperception/misunderstanding of incarcerated individuals; the rise of mass … Continue reading Identify: Team Restoring Justice