Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Portugal's radical drugs policy is working. Why hasn't the world copied it?

    After the fall of an oppressive and isolating regime, Portugal found itself utterly unprepared to deal with the rapid distribution of narcotics in the 1980s, creating a crisis that left 1 in every 10 people struggling with addiction. The country took a radical approach to rectifying opioid use through a huge cultural shift in the way it viewed and treated addicts - prioritizing support services and pioneering programs like needle-exchange and substitution therapy, and eventually decriminalizing hard drugs so that users could more easily get help, and drug rates have since plummeted.

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  • Why New York City Created Its Own Fund to Bail People Out of Jail

    Bail reform is a difficult process largely out of the hands of municipalities. Charitable bail funds allow individuals who can't afford bail to be free until their trial, in the hopes of changing the bail system from the inside.

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  • Native American peacemaking courts offer a model for reform

    A growing number of tribal judges nationwide - including Judge Abby Abinanti of the Yurok Tribal Court - are using a framework of traditional culture and an approach known as "restorative justice" to address both the need for rehabilitation of offenders and resolution for people often failed by the dominant criminal justice system.

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  • Participatory Defense

    While there are many factors that have contributed to the sky high incarceration rates in the United States which have left prisons bursting at the seams, one of the causes remains the simple fact that the resources of a private prosecutor vastly outweigh those of publicly-funded defense attorneys.

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  • When Communities Say No One Should Stay in Jail Just Because They're Poor

    Across the United States, organizations like Southerners on New ground and the Bronx Freedom Fund are posting bail for individuals facing low-level offenses who cannot afford it on their own. Such initiatives have gained in popularity because of the Black Mamas Bail-Out, a coordinated effort during May of each year. In posting their bail, these organizations are working to equitably help people of color, who are disproportionately affected by the cash bail system.

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  • Lessons learned: Hiring ex-offenders pays off, but the workers need help

    How do you find a job when you get out of prison? For some, it’s almost impossible. But, UpLift Solutions trains former offenders, and if they pass the six week course, they get hired at ShopRite, a grocery store. For some, the program is life changing.

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  • Mental health court could lower recidivism, cut costs

    For offenders with a co-occurring mental health disorder, the regular prison system is not viewed as an optimal environment. A mental health court would help lower recidivism and increase the offender's quality of life by treating their mental health issues in order to focus on the underlying issue contributing to the criminal acts.

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  • Redina's story: A mother's troubled journey home from prison

    For Redina, and others suffering from addiction, it is hard to break the cycle. 'Women Working for a Change' is a program that tries to change addicts' thinking in order to prevent a relapse.

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  • A Prison Sits Empty. A Nonprofit Moves In

    Hundreds of prisons sit empty and unused across the United States. Inspired by the potential, GrowingChange was founded to help flip the land into a space where former juvenile offenders could come together for constructive activities like gardening and group counseling, creating a positive space for reform and empowerment that has been helping to break the prison cycle for youth.

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  • This Vermont program might reduce sex offender recidivism. Could it work in Philly?

    A program called Circles in Vermont is built on the idea that it takes an entire community to help sex offenders reintegrate back into a community. Circles is also used in other states and countries and creates supportive networks of volunteers who offer a safe place for offenders to discuss their triggers and help them build authentic connections and relationships so they are part of the community rather than pushed to the fringes.

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