Criminal Justice Reform - Resources

Organizations - Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley

Other Web Resources

• More Resources on Prisons, Criminal Justice, Restorative Justice
• Resources on the U.S. Drug War and Alternatives
• Campaign to End the New Jim Crow
  - a project of Riverside Church and American Friends Service Committee.
• ENJAN (End New JimCrow Action Network)
  - a Hudson Valley network dedicated to fighting the racist criminal justice system.
• Where are the Christian prison abolitionists?, by Joshua Dubler (Christian Century, Oct. 9, 2013)

Audio

• No justice for all: Pennsylvania's unequal access to adequate public defense. Series of podcasts on Pennsylvania criminal justice reform produced by Keystone Crossroads (2018)

NPR - Bail Bond podcasts:
• Bail Burden Keeps U.S. Jails Stuffed With Inmates (2010: 20:58)
• Inmates Who Can't Make Bail Face Stark Options (2010: 7:47)
• Bondsman Lobby Targets Pretrial Release Programs (2010: 8:58)
NPR stories:
• Guilty and Charged (NPR series, week of May 18, 2014)
• Court User Fees Bill Defendants For Their Punishment
TED Talks - on many prison-related topics, such as:
• What if we ended the injustice of bail?
• A prosecutor's vison for a better justice system
• How jails extort the poor
• What a world without prisons could look like
• What I learned serving time for a crime I didn't commit
• Lessons in business ... from prison
... and many other topics.

Books

• 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)
• 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

• 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):
  • Immigrant Prisons (2018: 14 min.)
  • The Bail Trap (2016: 14 min.)
• 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. )

• "College Behind Bars" (Nov. 25-26, 2019   4 hours)
• "Life on Parole" (July 18, 2017   54:47)
• "Prison State" (April 29, 2014   123:40)
• "Solitary Nation" (April 22, 2014   53:40)
• New Report Slams "Unprecedented" Growth in US Prisons (follow-up commentary: May 1, 2014)

• "Kids for Cash" the movie - story of Luzerne County, PA, juvenile judges convicted of taking bribes. In theaters, DVD, and download. (May 2014)

Last Updated: 5/17/2020
Created: June 20, 2013