User:Agallacinao/sandbox

What is my PE?

Name: VOTE (Voices Of The Experienced)

Location: New Orleans, LA

"Restoring the full human and civil rights of those most impacted by the criminal (in)justice system."

This organization in based in New Orleans and mostly focuses on helping those who were formerly incarcerated- whether that be by advocacy or offering services such as expungement clinics. My role this summer will be focused on the communication aspect of this NGO, such as creating materials and content that center the experiences and needs of formerly incarcerated people, etc.

Article Selection

Area article[CONTEXT/BACKGROUND]: Race and Crime in the United States ("Discrimination by law enforcement and the judicial system" section)

What I think I can do to this article: This section of the article that I plan to edit is mostly consisted of research studies that support arguments that law enforcement and the judicial systems discriminate people of color-- and thus there is a disproportionate number of high rates of incarceration by people of color. My ideas of editing this section include: adding more statistical research of discrimination by police and judicial system; organizing the content/research by categories. For example, I took a psychology class of Stigma and Prejudice and we read research papers about race and crime discriminations. Also, this article does not talk about the school to prison pipeline that I think adds to the argument of race discrimination in crime and I would like to find a way to incorporate that in my section.

Key Historical/Debates: Mass incarceration, School to Prison Pipeline

How it fits for my PE:

This article has a C grade.

I think this article fits the "area" for my organization because the population that VOTE mostly advocates for are people of color- specifically African Americans. This topic overlaps tremendously with VOTE- I think this topic is the foundation of what VOTE fights for. This organization acknowledges that those who are most affected by mass incarceration and criminal justice are persons of color. Thus, I think this adding to this article would help me better understand VOTE and the work they do to help those who were formerly incarcerated.

Sector article[ACTION]: Criminal Justice Reform in US ("Re-entry" section)

What I think I can do to this article: This section of the article has little statistics/research data. It mostly talks about the arguments for re-entry reform and a sentence about parole reform. It also gives an example of re-entry reform, The Second Chance Act. This section is not huge and I think has room for more information. My ideas od editing this section include: Re-organizing the information already there, add more information such as...real examples of re-entry reform(not just Second Chance Act), parole reform, and also statistics (maybe success of re-entry reforms in the past).

Summary of article:

This article has a S grade.

I think this article will fit my PE sector because VOTE strongly believes in criminal justice reform and they mostly focus on the re-entry. They provided many services to help those who were formerly incarcerated, such as expungement clinics. These clinics help those who were incarcerated get their criminal records clean and thus have a better chance on finding employment. This organization also does a lot of policy/advocacy work regarding re-entry, such as House Bill 266, a “ban the box” policy that gets rid of the question “have you ever been convicted of a felony” on employment applications. VOTE works very hard on supporting those who are trying to get back on their feet after being incarcerated.

Article Evaluation

Sector Article

The article, "Criminal Justice Reform in US," talks about the issues that VOTE focuses on, such as felony disenfranchisement and other federal restrictions that individuals face when released from incarceration.

Structure: The structure of this article is somewhat organized. First, the article talks about the types of criminal justice reforms, then talks about arguments for/against reform, then examples of reform organizations, reform status in each state, then criminal justice reform on a global level.

Content: I do not think the content is perfectly balanced throughout the article. Areas that lack content are the global reform efforts and also reform status in each state.

Lead section: I think the leading section of the article gives enough detail to provide an overview of what criminal justice reform looks like in the US. For example, the first section talks about goals of criminal justice reform and what organizations advocate for reform. However, I think the leading section could be better by formatting it like an introduction. The leading section does not entail all of the "sections" in the articles which it should do.

Tone: I think the article is not 100 percent neutral. I think that the writer for this article was pro-reform, just by the language of the article. For example, the "opposition to reform" section is very little compared to the other content in the article.

Sourcing: There are a lot of sources listed in this article, about 73. However, looking at the sources I see some that could be argued as biased- which is not suggested for a resource. For example, there is a lot of data from ACLU which is a "left" organization. I feel like it might be hard to find sources that are not "leftist" because criminal justice reform in a "leftist" topic.

"Re-entry" section of the article: The first paragraph of this section is kind of confusing, for example it talks about recidivism. I think the topic of recidivism is important when talking about re-entry reform, however its not the main aspect of re-entry reform. The second paragraph of this section talks about the types of disenfranchisement that affect ex-offenders. I think there should be more information added to this area- there is more information about the re-entry challenges that are not discussed in this paragraph. The third/last paragraph only talks about The Second Chance Act- which provides services to help reduce recidivism among formerly incarcerated individuals. I think there could be more information here about other efforts to help reduce recidivism and help with re-entry.

Scholarly Sources

Area: Race and Crime in the United States with a focus on discrimination by law enforcement and the judicial system

1. The police officer's dilemma: Using ethnicity to disambiguate potentially threatening individuals.

Summary: This study used a simple video game to show that ethnicity has effects on shoot/don’t shoot decisions and thus affecting similar decision-making by police officers. The video game consisted of African American or White targets, holding guns or other objects, and appeared in complex backgrounds.

Relevancy: This specific study, showing that racial biases have an effect on police officer decisions on shoot/don’t shoot individuals, support my Wiki article argument that there exist racial discrimination by police officers on people of color. This helps me understand my practice experience organization,VOTE, because VOTE works with populations that are commonly discriminated by law enforcement and thus I can better understand the backgrounds of these individuals and better serve them.

2.Years of life lost due to encounters with law enforcement in the USA

Summary: This article adds more data to discrimination by law enforcement such as police brutality. The researchers used data on the number of deaths due to police violence from ‘The Counted’, a media-based source compiled by The Guardian. People of color comprised 38.5% of the population, but 51.5% of YLLs(years of life lost).

Relevancy: I think this article would be good for my Wiki article because no where in the article do they talk about police brutality and I think that is important to talk about when mentioning discrimination by law enforcement.

3. The Failure of Race Neutral Policies: How Mandatory Terms and Sentencing Enhancements Contribute to Mass Radicalized Incarceration

Summary: This study argues that race neutral policies, such as mandatory policies and sentencing enhancements, produce racially disparate outcomes and may contribute to continued racial inequality in the prison system.

Relevancy: This study is relevant to my practice experience because my organization strives to end mass incarceration, which can be argued is created by race-neutral policies. Understanding how these type of policies target people of color can help me understand the needs of the population that my organization fights for. Also, this study is relevant to my Wiki article because it supports the argument that the judicial system can be guilty of race discrimination since the judicial system creates mandatory policies and sentencing enhancements.

4. The Death Penalty and the United States Armed Forces

Summary: This paper argues that Black defendants are disproportionately sentenced to the death penalty when the victim in white. This argument further supports the claim that there are racial discriminations in the judicial system, even to the most extreme crime punishments such as the death penalty.

Relevancy: I think this information is useful for my practice experience because I believe many of the individuals that I will be helping (the formerly incarcerated) might have been convicted of different crimes due to their race. I do not have similar experiences of being racial discrimination by the judicial system, thus learning about this is important to better understand the population I will be working closely with.

5. Neighborhood racial context and perceptions of police‐based discrimination among black youth

Summary: This study found that Black youth were most frequently discriminated against by law enforcement in white neighborhoods, especially in neighborhoods that have recent growth in black population. This study further supports claims that law enforcement racially discriminated against minorities.

Relevancy: I think this information is helpful for my practice experiences because the population that I will be help are Blacks who I believe have probably experienced racial discrimination by officers similar to this. I want to be as empathetic and understanding of my population as much as I can as I try to help them address this sensitive topic of being formerly incarcerated.

6. Implicit Racial Bias Across the Law

Summary: This study found that a juror’s implicit bias of race creates racial disparities in the sentencing of death penalties.

Relevancy: I think this type of information will be helpful for me when I work at my practice experience because I believe that the population that my organization helps could have faced racial discrimination due to implicit biases by the jury. This will better help me understand the perspectives and feelings that the formerly incarcerated have about the criminal justice system, thus making is easier to better help their needs when is comes to reform. I wanted to use this paper because there was little information about the jury and racial discrimination. In addition, I wanted to add more information about psychology evidence such as implicit biases.

7.Assessing the racial aspects of police force using the implicit- and counter-bias perspectives

Summary: This paper tested whether law enforcement were consistent with “implicit-bias” or “counter-bias” perspective. “Implicit-bias” perspective claims that that law enforcement’s implicit biases produce greater force against Blacks. “Counter-bias” perspective claims that law enforcement use less force against Blacks because of officer’s concern about the consequences of being forceful against people of color. The paper found the “implicit-bias” perspective to be true.

Relevancy: I think this information is helpful for me to better understand my practice experience because the population that my organization mostly addresses are Blacks and its important to understand the inequalities the population faces as I try to help them. This paper is also helpful for my Wikipedia article because I wanted to add more psychological evidence of racial discrimination by law enforcement on minorities.

Sector: Criminal Justice Reform with a specificity of improving the reentry process and reducing offender recidivism

Background: The successful reentry of prisoners to society is a critical public safety issue and requires more than supervision by a parole officer to ensure success.Successful reentry reduces recidivism, however, many former inmates return to the community with limited education, poor employment skills, substance use disorders, and other deficits that are well known risk factors for reoffending. Without treatment and assistance during the transition to community life, many offenders are likely to return to prison.

1. An Experimental Evaluation of a Comprehensive Employment-Oriented Prisoner Re-entry Program

Summary: This experiment argues that government services to help improve human capital of inmates prior to release and ‘wrap around services’ after release boost employment and earnings of ex-offenders.

Relevancy: This article will help me understand my practice experiment because my organization does various policy advocacy to help the re-entry of ex-offenders and thus this information will help me understand the importance of my organization's goals. Also, this study will fit into my Wiki article because I plan to add concrete examples of the argument for re-entry criminal justice reform in my Wiki article.

2. Life on the Outside: Returning Home after Incarceration.

Summary: This paper argues that those who return home from incarceration face daunting barriers to successful reintegration and that successful reentry is essential and requires strong community support networks and comprehensive services- which are lacking in urban areas.

Relevancy: This paper in relevant to my practice experience because my organization strives to be that “community support” for those who were formerly incarcerated. Thus, this paper will help me understand the programs emplaced by this organization and then better support their work. Also, this paper will fit into my Wiki article because I plan to use the information to add supportive arguments for reform.

3. Ex-offenders reentering the workforce

Summary: This article argues that little is known about the challenges ex-offenders face when they try to reenter the workforce and thus there is little research about how to support reentry into employment. This paper uses their experiment to argue for specific reentry services that should be inputed.

Relevancy: This study will help me better understand my practice experience because my organization uses their community networks to help ex-offenders reintegrate back into society. In addition, this paper will fit into my Wiki article I will use their findings to add examples of reentry reform.

4. Ban the Box to Promote Ex-Offender Employment

Summary: This journal argues that the “Ban the Box” Act increases the chance of employment for the formerly incarcerated, which leads to successful reintegration. A key finding from this journal article that I found valuable was that private companies such as Target, Starbucks, and Home Depot increased employment for the formerly incarcerated because of “Ban the Box.”

Relevancy: This academic journal will help me better understand my practice experience because my organization advocated and help implement the “Ban the Box” Act in Louisiana. This journal article will also be useful for my Wikipedia article because this act is an example of a type of re-entry support that has proven to help formerly incarcerated reintegrate back into society.

5. Does "Ban the Box" Help or Hurt Low-Skilled Workers? Statistical Discrimination and Employment Outcomes When Criminal Histories are Hidden

Summary: This source argues that the “Ban the Box” Act is not entirely successful. It states that eliminating the requirement of listing criminal records on job applications makes employers guess who has a criminal record. This leads to employers to racially discriminate applicants because employers assume that Hispanics and Blacks are most likely to have criminal records.

Relevancy: This argument is helpful for me to better understand my practice experience because my organization supports “Ban the Box” Act, however I think it is essential to understand all arguments of a policy. I want to arrive at my organization with no obliviousness and adequate knowledge in order to better support their work. This source will also be valuable for my Wikipedia article because I plan to include “Ban the Box” Act as an example of re-renty support and I need to be explicit with both the cons and pros of the act.

6. Predicting Who Reoffends: The Neglected Role of Neighborhood Context in Recidivism Studies

Summary: This source discusses research the neighborhood influence on individuals who are released from incarceration. It connects social factors such as socioeconomic status to the chances of integrating back into society. It states that those who return to disadvantaged neighborhoods have a higher rate of recidivism compared to communities with affluent resources.

Relevancy: This source will help me better understand my practice experience because my organization believes strongly in community building in order to help the formerly incarcerated. Understanding what a community needs in order to be helpful will be useful for when I work with my organization this summer. This source will also be helpful  for my Wikipedia article because I plan to include examples of what successful re-entry looks like.

7.Ex-Prisoners' Re-Entry: An Emerging Frontier and a Social Work Challenge

I think this article would be good for my Wiki Article because my Wiki article section talks about examples of re-entry program efforts and this article has possible examples that I can use. This article ties in how social work can have a play into re-entry support, which I think is important because social work relates to public services and that is a connected to the argument that the government should be more involved in helping re-entry.

Summary: This journal article states that social services are needed in order to help successful reintegration for the formerly incarcerated. Examples of social services are stable housing and rehabilitation for drug and alcohol abuse.

Relevancy: This information is useful for my practice experience because I will be working alongside the formerly incarcerated and it is important to understand the challenges of the population I will be working with in order to best help them. In addition, this will be helpful for my Wikipedia article because I will be including examples of barriers that the formerly incarcerated face when trying to reintegrate and thus re-entry support is essential.

Wiki Article Drafting Edits

Area Wiki Article:

*My edits are in bold*

Research suggests that police practices, such as racial profiling, over-policing in areas populated by minorities and in-group bias may result in disproportionately high numbers of racial minorities among crime suspects.

A 2018 study in the American Journal of Public Health found that black and Hispanic men were far more likely to be killed by police than white men.

A 2016 study focused on police violence quantified the number years of life lost due to police violence by race in the US from 2016 to 2016. This study found disproportionate years of lives lost for minorities. Minorities were 38.5% of the population, but compromised 51.5% of the years of life lost.

A 2002 psychology study found that ethnicity has effects on a police officer's decision on shoot/don't shoot. blacks were far more likely to be shot by police officers than whites in ambiguous situations.

A 2016 study tested whether the racial aspect of force by law enforcement were consistent with the “implicit-bias." The study found that the “implicit-bias perspective” was consistent, which states that law enforcement’s implicit biases produce greater force against Blacks. A 2016 paper by Roland G. Fryer, Jr, found no racial bias in lethal use of police force when comparing similar situations, but found that black and Hispanic suspects were significantly more likely to experience non-lethal use of force.A report by the Department of Justice concluded that police officers in Baltimore, Maryland systemically stop, search (in some cases strip-search) and harass black residents, while another DOJ report on Ferguson, Missouri found African Americans are severely disproportionately affected at "nearly every aspect of Ferguson’s law enforcement system".A January 2017 report by the DOJ found that the Chicago Police Department had "unconstitutionally engaged in a pattern of excessive force" and an independent task force created by the mayor said that police "have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color".

A 2009 study found that black youth were most frequently discriminated against by law enforcement in white neighborhoods, especially in neighborhoods that have recent growth in black population.

In-group bias has also been observed when it comes to traffic citations, as black and white cops are more likely to cite out-groups.

Research also shows that there is discrimination by the judicial system, which contributes to a higher number of convictions and harsher sentencing for racial minorities.

A 2012 study found that "(i) juries formed from all-white jury pools convict black defendants significantly (16 percentage points) more often than white defendants, and (ii) this gap in conviction rates is entirely eliminated when the jury pool includes at least one black member." Research has found evidence of in-group bias, where "black (white) juveniles who are randomly assigned to black (white) judges are more likely to get incarcerated (as opposed to being placed on probation), and they receive longer sentences."

A 2018 paper by Alma Cohen and Crystal Yang of Harvard Law School found that "that Republican-appointed judges give substantially longer prison sentences to black offenders versus observably similar non-black offenders compared to Democratic-appointed judges within the same district court."A 2018 study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics found that bail judges in Miami and Philadelphia were racially biased against black defendants, as white defendants had higher rates of pretrial misconduct than black defendants.

A 2011 study states that policies, such as mandatory policies and sentencing enhancements, produce racially disparate outcomes and may contribute to continued racial inequality in the prison system. Mandatory terms and sentencing enhancements disproportionately increase Black men’s prison admission rates.

A 2007 paper by Jennifer Hochschild concluded that in criminal sentencing, medium to dark-skinned African Americans are likely to receive sentences 2.6 years longer than those of whites or light-skinned African Americans. When a white victim is involved, the report found that those with more "black" features are likely to receive a much more severe punishment.

A 2013 report by the American Civil Liberties Union found that blacks were "3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession", even though "blacks and whites use drugs, including marijuana, at similar rates."

A graph showing the Incarceration rate under state and federal jurisdiction per 100,000 population 1925–2008. It does not include jail inmates. The male incarceration rate is roughly 15 times the female incarceration rate.

A 2016 analysis by the New York Times "of tens of thousands of disciplinary cases against inmates in 2015, hundreds of pages of internal reports and three years of parole decisions found that racial disparities were embedded in the prison experience in New York."Blacks and Latinos were sent more frequently to solitary and held there for longer durations than whites.The New York Times analysis found that the disparities were the greatest for violations where the prison guards had lots of discretion, such as disobeying orders, but smaller for violations that required physical evidence, such as possessing contraband.

A 2016 report by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune found that Florida judges sentence black defendants to far longer prison sentences than whites with the same background.For the same drug possession crimes, blacks were sentenced to double the time of whites. Blacks were given longer sentences in 60 percent of felony cases, 68 percent of the most serious first-degree crimes, 45 percent of burglary cases and 30 percent of battery cases.For third-degree felonies (the least serious types of felonies in Florida), white judges sentenced blacks to twenty percent more time than whites, whereas black judges gave more balanced sentences.One judge responded by noting that about ninety-eight percent of sentences are the result of plea bargaining and that sentencing is a complicated issue given the various facts involved, thus no two cases can be compared. Some attorneys note that poorer defendants often rely on public defenders who often receive less favorable plea offers than defendants with private counsel because private attorneys have lighter case loads, are less likely to go to trial with prosecutors, and defendants with means are more likely to present mitigating factors.

Another theory proposes that racial inequality in the American criminal justice system is mostly caused by a racial imbalance in decisions to charge criminal defendants with crimes requiring a mandatory minimum prison sentence, leading to large racial disparities in incarceration.

A 2011 paper concluded that black defendants are disproportionately subjected to the death penalty when the victim is white. A 2014 study tested the effects of implicit bias on the death penalty. The study found that a juror’s implicit bias creates racial disparities in the sentencing of death penalties.

A 2018 study in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics found that high stakes decisions, such as sentence lengths, made by judges can be greatly impacted by emotions and these type of decisions can thus be unstable. This was supported by an experiment where the effects of emotional shocks associated with unexpected wins/loses of college football games were analyzed alongside sentencing decisions by judges of black defendants.

Sector Wiki Article:

*My edits are in bold*

Those that believe re-entry programs need reform typically point to recidivism rates within the United States criminal justice system. While those against reform claim that recidivism rates are indicative of inherent criminality amongst certain groups, those in support of reform believe it is indicative of the ineffectiveness of re-entry and parole programs.

Different types of disenfranchisement exist that affect the formerly incarcerated after their release. Advocates of criminal justice reform in the United States often also push for the reform of restrictions on federal aid and societal participation. Federal restrictions that exist include bans on the use of welfare programs and federal financial aid for education. Restrictions on societal participation include felons not being allowed to hold public office, teach or work in child care, or vote. Voting restrictions are known as felony disenfranchisement. This refers to the regulations that prevent those with a felony conviction from voting in local, state, and federal elections on the basis of their conviction. 6.1 million individuals were unable to vote due to felony disenfranchisement in 2016.

Former prisoners are incarcerated multiple times, increasing recidivism rates, because they are unable to follow strict rules and regulations. Advocates of parole reform perceive these regulations as not being focus on community well being but instead on controlling parolees. A report for Columbia University's Justice lab showed that in the four years since January 1, 2018, New York City's jail population declined by 21%. However, during this time period, the population of individuals incarcerated due to parole violations increased by 15%.

The challenge of finding employment opportunities is another barrier for reintegration. Many employers deny applicants due to criminal records. Other reasons for difficulty finding employment after release is lack of available support such as personal networks and resources from correction systems. Additional barriers to successful reintegration can come from the community surrounding the newly released individual. Those who return to disadvantages neighborhoods have a higher chance of recidivism than those who return to communities with rich and affluent resources. Lack of stable housing and resources to combat mental health and drug and alcohol abuse also create obstacles for formerly incarcerated to successful reintegrate back into society.

Former prisoners are incarcerated multiple times, increasing recidivism rates, because of many factors that often do not include real crime. Most often they are re-incarcerated because of strict parole rules and regulations. Advocates of parole reform perceive these regulations as not being focus on community well being but instead on controlling parolees. A report for Columbia University's Justice lab showed that in the four years since January 1, 2018, New York City's jail population declined by 21%. However, during this time period, the population of individuals incarcerated due to parole violations increased by 15%.

There are many forms of successful re-entry. Government intervention such as implementing “wrap-around” services are proven to help income and boost employment. Comprehensive social services that offer independent housing and jobs alongside counseling and rehabilitation help formerly incarcerated reintegrate.

The Second Chance Act. This was passed with bipartisan support in an effort to reduce recidivism rates and improve outcomes for individuals following their released from juvenile facilities, jails and prisons. Second Chance Grant Programs include those that focus on substance use and mental disorders, mentoring and transitional services for adults, improvement for the outcomes for youth in the juvenile justice system, and technology career training.

The “Ban the Box Act” is a program that has been implemented in 23 states and offers fair chance hiring for the formerly incarcerated by eliminating the requirement of addressing criminal history on employment applications. This act ends barriers of criminal record discrimination and has improved employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated with employers such as Target, Starbucks, and Home depot. “Ban the Box” also influences racial discrimination as employers began to guess who has criminal records, and the individuals mostly targeted by these assumptions are Hispanics and Blacks.

Summarizing and Synthesizing

Area: Race and Crime in the United States, with a focus on discrimination by law enforcement and the judicial system

The public conversations about race and crime in the US, specifically with a focus on discrimination by law enforcement and the judicial system, is that the two are strongly intertwined. Those who fall victim to the injustices of the criminal system are people of color- specifically African Americans. The politicized debates surrounding my Area is that there are hard facts of law environment and the judicial system discriminating people of color whether that be high killings by police or high criminal charges/incarceration-- thus there should be action. There is much history about instances of high amounts of violence by police on African Americans, and there are recent experiments/studies that support the argument of racial bias being a factor of police brutality and judicial injustices.

Sector: Criminal Justice Reform with a focus on re-entry/recidivism

The public discussion is that there is little public support and systems in place to help those who have been formerly incarcerated. In addition, systems even make it harder for them to get back on their feet. For example, being denied housing, voting rights, employment and public services because of criminal record.

Policy reform is a popular topic of discussion when it domes to criminal justice reform and helping those who are trying to re-integrate back into society- such as banning the requirement of listing criminal records on application for housing or employment. Also, specific criminal records can deny you from voting- which can stop you from voting about decisions on public services that you may need. Overall, the main conversations that I have read is that the public/government should be more involved in helping those re-entry and we should not let them suffer and have them and their families deal with the suffering privately(home). Even if these people were incarcerated(whether they should have been in the first place or not), they are still citizens.

Area

Race and crime in the United States#Discrimination by law enforcement and the judicial system

(adding new "paragraph" of information):

A 2002 psychology study found that implicit bias creates racial discrimination when there is a "shoot/don't shoot" situation between law enforcement and Blacks.