Recently, the New York Times emailed about “6 true-crime podcasts on the dark side of romance.” These six podcasts, they tell us, are “true stories of abusers, liars and romantic con artists who ruthlessly exploit their victims’ desire for love.” The descriptions of the stories follow a well-worn path, pulling us in with the intrigue…
Melissa Lucio is likely innocent, but Texas plans to execute her on April 27 anyway. There’s a real risk that Texas might execute an innocent person next month. Melissa Lucio was tried, convicted, and, in 2008, sentenced to death for a crime that likely never happened. Now, a broad coalition of organizations and experts are…
Reimagining Justice This Month: February Reimagining Justice This Month highlights stories about effective responses to violence — responses that disrupt cycles of violence, heal trauma, and address structural racism. To fight crime, build an ecosystem of safety, The Advocate In Baton Rouge, like cities around the country, the current public safety system’s focus on enforcement…
EJUSA’s vision is a world where violence is rare and every community is safe and healthy. That means that we have a criminal legal system that doesn’t cause more harm. A full scale transformation of the criminal legal system and all the systems that connect to it is work that will take generations. We need…
Kasandra Mojica earned one of two Shari Silberstein Reimagining Justice Internships in the fall 2021, working in communications. Throughout her time at EJUSA, she learned about our vision to address harm in a trauma-informed way, instead of with punishment, and she wrote this piece as a culmination of her internship. Kasandra graduated from Rutgers University…
The more things change, the more they stay the same. The past two decades have brought a steady, state-by-state dismantling of the death penalty, and 2021 proved no different. We saw the first former Confederate state repeal the death penalty when Virgina Governor George Northam signed the state’s new law into the books. That stroke…
In this moment, I’m thinking of Ahmaud Arbery’s parents. No doubt, they are feeling relief. The men who took Ahmaud away from them and their family and community are being held responsible. Despite an abundance of evidence, like so many, I was nervous about this verdict. Our justice system has signaled countless times throughout history…
Nicole Scott started The BRidge Agency with the goal of it acting as the bridge connecting community members and the resources needed to meet their needs. Her own experience living in Baton Rouge is proof that families that are struggling are often unaware of the help that’s available. Nearing its fifth anniversary, the scope of…
There have been two constants in Donna Roman Hernandez’s life: trauma and a deep desire to help people. Both elements are deeply entwined. Donna served her community for 30 years as a police officer in New Jersey, retiring as a captain having commanded a domestic violence response team and police in-service domestic violence training unit….
A first term president has — officially — 1,460 days to enact an agenda through policy and action for the American people. But the first 100 days have always drawn a huge amount of attention as a traditional measure of what’s to come. They are presented with all the opportunity and hope of a new…