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70 Million – Forget Reform, They Want Abolition
Aug24

70 Million – Forget Reform, They Want Abolition

  This week on Making Contact we’re taking you to St. Louis, Missouri with the Podcast 70 Million to learn about the city’s ongoing efforts to re-imagine public safety beyond incarceration. Organizers in St. Louis have given up on trying to simply reform the criminal legal system. Now, they’re working to abolish it. And they’re starting with the closure of the “Medium Security Institution” known as...

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Unequal Justice: the Criminalization of Black Youth
Apr13

Unequal Justice: the Criminalization of Black Youth

Nearly two thirds of all children in the U.S. juvenile justice system are kids of color. That’s according to a recent report by the Children’s Defense Fund. In this episode of Making Contact, we’ll hear from Dr. Kris Henning on the disparities faced by Black youth in the juvenile justice system. Dr. Henning is the Blume Professor of Law and Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic and Initiative at Georgetown University Law Center. And...

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70 Million: When a State Treats Drug Addiction Like a Health Issue, Not a Crime
Apr06

70 Million: When a State Treats Drug Addiction Like a Health Issue, Not a Crime

  A year ago, Oregon became the first state to decriminalize drug possession. The goal is to reverse some of the negative impacts of the War on Drugs by approaching drug use from a health-centered basis. Reporter Cecilia Brown visits an addiction and recovery center in Portland that’s gearing up for what they hope will be an influx of people seeking treatment. Image Credit: Miracles Club Like this program? Please click here and...

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One Long Night: Andrea Pitzer on the Global History of Concentration Camps
Jan27

One Long Night: Andrea Pitzer on the Global History of Concentration Camps

Making Contact · One Long Night: Andrea Pitzer on the Global History of Concentration Camps Today we use a lot of euphemisms: re-education camps, internment, work camps, prison camps, camps for internally displaced people. But before World War I, these prisons were known simply as concentration camps and they started in Cuba in the 1890s to control an uprising against the Spanish colonizers. Since then, concentration camps have...

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Re:Work: [No] Child Left Behind, the School to Prison Pipeline
Aug11

Re:Work: [No] Child Left Behind, the School to Prison Pipeline

Making Contact · Re:Work: [No] Child Left Behind, the School to Prison Pipeline   We often see children as innocents who need love, support, and stability. But not all young people are nurtured this way. Too often youth from marginalized communities of color are not seen as needing protection — they are treated as the ones we need protection from. We see this in this episode, brought to us from Re:Work Radio, with...

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John Carlos Frey on America’s Stealth War on the Mexico Border
Jan08

John Carlos Frey on America’s Stealth War on the Mexico Border

America’s Stealth War In recent decades, U.S. immigration policies have aggressively targeted families fleeing violence and poverty in Mexico and Central and South America, spawning a network of detention centers that now exist indefinitely along our southern border.  The US’s approach to tackling illegal immigration has come under fire for its use of brutal tactics such as deliberately separating families, placing them in...

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One Long Night: Andrea Pitzer on the Global History of Concentration Camps
Dec17

One Long Night: Andrea Pitzer on the Global History of Concentration Camps

The Global History of Concentration Camps “The use of concentration camps changes the world, but going forward, the most predictable outcome of their use is a world with more camps” Today we use a lot of euphemisms: re-education camps, internment, work camps, prison camps, camps for internally displaced people. But before world war one, these prisons were known simply as concentration camps and they started in Cuba in the...

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70 Million: How Bail Shackles Women of Color
Oct15

70 Million: How Bail Shackles Women of Color

How Bail Shackles Women of Color Tamiki Banks’ life was turned upside down when her husband was arrested, leaving her the sole breadwinner and caregiver to their twins. More than two years later, she’s still struggling, and he’s still in custody, even though he hasn’t been convicted of any crime. From Atlanta, Pamela Kirkland reports on the heavy burden women of color like Tamiki bear when a loved one is jailed....

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Decarcerated with Danielle Sered: Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair
Sep03

Decarcerated with Danielle Sered: Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair

Decarcerated with Danielle Sered Courtesy of the Decarcerated Podcast, host Marlon Peterson hosts a live conversation with Common Justice founder Danielle Sered.  Sered’s New Book, Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair explores the difficult transformations we need to make — both as individuals and as a society — before we can displace and replace the prison industrial complex. Danielle tackles the...

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Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools
Aug27

Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools is an examination of the experiences of black girls across the country whose intricate lives are misunderstood, highly judged “by teachers, administrators, and the justice system “and degraded by the very institutions charged with helping them flourish. In her new book, Morris shows how, despite obstacles, stigmas,...

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