The Heart of Justice
2014 Event
2013 Event
Resources
The Lehigh Conference of Churches
Justice & Advocacy
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The Heart of Justice:
Breaking the Cycle of
Fear, Violence, Punishment, Retaliation
Resources
Organizations - Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley
- ACLU-PA (American Civil Liberties Union, Pennsylvania)
- CADBI - Coalition Against Death by Incarceration (Allentown)
- CADBI - Coalition Against Death by Incarceration (Philadelphia)
- Crime Victims Council of the Lehigh Valley
- Decarcerate PA (Philadelphia)
- Heeding God's Call - responding to gun violence
- Industrial Workers of the World - Web, on Facebook
- International Institute for Restorative Practices (Bethlehem, PA)
- The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program is an international education program that brings together campus-based college students with incarcerated students. The program holds training institutes for participants and educators, and the website includes video and podcast resources.
- The Phoenix Think Tank (formerly The Graterford Think Tank) is one of several local groups of Inside-Out alumni (both incarcerated and non-incarcerated) and/or trained Inside-Out faculty who meet regularly on a volunteer basis at a correctional facility. The Phoenix Think Tank, which is connected with Temple University, meets at Phoenix SCI (near Philadelphia.)
- A Lehigh Valley Think Tank is being formed among Lehigh Valley Colleges (Jan. 2020), with the Muhlehberg College Inside-Out Program.
- Lehigh Valley Committee Against State Killing (LV-CASK) - a committee of LEPOCO, affiliated with Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (PADP).
- NAACP Allentown - Web, on Facebook
- NAACP Bethlehem - Web, on Facebook.
- NAACP Easton - Web
- No#215Jail Coalition
- Pennsylvania Prison Society
- Philadelphia Bail Fund
- The Program for Women & Families (Allentown) - works to build a safe community by providing youth, adult offenders, and their families with opportunities to build healthy, productive lives.
- Yokefellow Prison Ministries (Lehigh Valley)
Other Web Resources
Audio
Books
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Death in Custody: How America Ignores the Truth and What We Can Do About It, published in 2023 by Johns Hopkins University Press, is built on the understanding that the United States significantly undercounts the number of individuals who die while in law enforcement custody each year. Custody is the broad term for individuals who die during an encounter with police on the street, during transport, or while in jails, prisons, or detention centers.
The authors, Dr. Roger A. Mitchell and Jay D. Aronson, demonstrate how government officials at all levels have intentionally avoided producing an accurate count of how many people die in custody. They argue that this ignorance is obscuring a public health crisis that must be addressed systematically. Mitchell and Aronson offer straightforward solutions that are relatively easy to implementÑonce there is political will to do so. Dr. Mitchell is Chair of Pathology at Howard University College of Medicine and served as Chief Medical Examiner of Washington, DC from 2014-2021. Aronson is Professor of Science, Technology, and Society in the History Department at Carnegie Mellon University, where he founded and directs the Center for Human Rights Science.
- American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment, by Shane Bauer (2018)
Shane Bauer interview about American Prison (NPR: Sept. 30, 2018)
"My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard", by Shane Bauer (Mother Jones: July/August 2016)
- Start Here: A Road Map to Ending Mass Incarceration, by Greg Berman & Julian Adler (2018)
NPR interview with Berman and Adler (April 6, 2018)
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson (2014)
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Prison Industrial Complex for Beginners by James Braxton Peterson (2016)
- The New Jim Crow, by Michele Alexander (2010)
The New Jim Crow (wikipedia) - an extensive outline of Michele Alexander's book.
- The Executed God: The Way of the Cross in Lockdown America, by Mark Lewis Taylor (2nd Edition: 2015)
- Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis, by Christian Parenti (2008)
- "Broken on All Sides" – web-based educational resources and books about prisons, criminal justice, racism, and capitalism.
Reports
- One in Five: Racial Disparity in Imprisonment - Causes and Remedies (Dec. 7, 2023)
This Sentencing Project report examines three causes of racial inequity in the criminal legal system and presents a series of promising reforms from over 50 jurisdictions across the country that can mitigate their impact.
Three key causes of racial disparities listed in the report include:
- Laws and policies that appear race-neutral have a disparate racial impact.
- Racial bias influences criminal legal practitionersÕ use of discretion.
- A financially burdensome and under-resourced criminal legal system puts people with low incomes, who are disproportionately people of color, at a disadvantage.
- The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences, National Academy of Sciences (May 2014: 444-page report, free PDF or purchase printed copy)
Comprehensive research report and recommendations on mass incarceration.
- Empire of Prisons, by James P. Jordan (June 2014)
Describes export of U.S. mass incarceration to at least 25 other countries.
- "When a Parent is in Prison" - photo-essay: reflections from the children of prisoners, compiled at Eastern Mennonite University.
Video
- Behind Bars (CBS 60 Minutes: Mar. 4, 2018)
The German prison system that emphasizes rehabilitation over punishment (and other prison-related stories).
- Sister Hearts (2017: 16 min)
- Maryam Henderson-Uloho spent thirteen years in prison in Louisiana, seven in solitary confinement. After her release she struggled to find housing or employment. She began selling secondhand goods out of a suitcase on a street corner in New Orleans. In just three years, she grew her business to a brick-and-mortar thrift store--one that also provides housing and employment for other formerly-incarcerated women. She calls those women--and her store--Sister Hearts.
- Breaking Down the Box (2016: 41 min)
- on solitary confinement. Examines the mental health, racial justice and human rights implications of the systemic use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons. (More resources and DVD order form at nrcat.org/breakingdownthebox)
- 13th (2016: 100 min.)
On racism and U.S. criminal justice system. The title refers to the 13th Amendment to U.S. Constitution which freed the slaves and prohibited slavery - except as punishment for a crime
- Rikers: An American Jail (2016: 56 min.)
DVD (free) and discussion guide
- Pull of Gravity (2013: 81 min.)
about reentry stories for several people in Philadelphia
- Brave New Films (series of short videos on many topics, including these):
The House I Live In (2013: 109 min.) - a powerful documentary about the Drug War and mass incarceration in the U.S.
Policing the Police (2016: 56 min.) - a Frontline documentary about the Newark Police Department and the efforts to reign in abusive policing practices in the U.S.
Gideon's Army (2014: 96 min.) - a documentary about the under-funded and under-resourced public defenders whose job it is to provide the poor with fair legal representation.
The Central Park Five (2012: 119 min.) - a documentary about the case of five Black and Latino teenagers in New York who were unjustly convicted of raping a white woman and who spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before their convictions were overturned.
Broken on All Sides (2012: 68 min.)
( Contact Justice & Advocacy at justice@ppjr.org to schedule a local showing of this documentary. )
PBS Frontline: Locked Up in America (view on-line or order DVD)
- "Kids for Cash" the movie - story of Luzerne County, PA, juvenile judges convicted of taking bribes. In theaters, DVD, and download. (May 2014)
Look for updates to this list from time to time.
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