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Orlando murder victims’ families of color express frustration. Their basic needs are not being met.

Miles Mulrain opens the press conference

While Florida considers expanded rights for crime victims, local murder victims’ families are expressing their dismay that the voices of local victims are too-often ignored and that current resources and agencies aren’t sufficiently meeting the needs of many victims of color.

Over a dozen murder victims’ families held a news conference Thursday morning in front of the Orlando Police headquarters. Those participating are members of local victims’ support groups, including Let Your Voice Be Heard Inc., Beautiful Safe Beginnings, and Men of Purpose.

Thursday’s speakers included the parents and children of individuals murdered in the Orlando area. They asked the Orlando Police Department for an official meeting to hear about victims’ and surviving families’ needs in the wake of violence, to express concerns about how the Orlando Police Department has interacted with communities of color, and to work toward better communication going forward.

“When we talk about helping victims, we do a great injustice to many if we focus exclusively on their experiences with the offender and the criminal justice system,” said Miles Mulrain, one of the organizers of Thursday’s event. “The reality is that victims have many needs independent of the offender and the courts. Those needs are almost never addressed. These include access to resources like counseling for traumatized families and communication and transparency with local police departments.”

EJUSA Executive Director Shari Silberstein says the frustrations of these Orlando victims is heard across the country. “The unfortunate reality for too many murder victims’ families, especially in communities of color, is that they don’t have access to agencies, information, and resources needed to help them heal.”

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City of Newark spotlights EJUSA Police-Community Trauma Program

Grio Video playing in the lobby

As Newark community leaders and residents gathered for the mayor’s annual State of the City speech last night, a video featuring EJUSA’s Police-Community Trauma Program played on a loop in the lobby for all to see. The 7-minute video was produced by The Grio, one of the largest online news sources for African Americans, and shows our efforts to bridge the divide between police and communities in order to foster trust, healing, and action.

“This program has been transformative because the trainings facilitate honest conversations about trauma, violence, and racism,” said EJUSA Executive Director Shari Silberstein.

Efforts to reform Newark’s police department took center stage in Mayor Ras Baraka’s speech. “We are deeply focused on rebuilding the trust between our police department and the community,” he said. Baraka highlighted Newark’s improved public safety efforts, the need to keep the voices of the community front and center, and plans to continue to “build systems of trauma-informed care, because violence is a public health issue.”

“We are so grateful for the Mayor’s leadership and support for the Police-Community Trauma Program,” added EJUSA Deputy Director Fatimah Loren Muhammad, who has worked with the police department on the program’s expansion. “Together, community members and police officers have the opportunity to speak openly, build understanding, and envision new solutions to break the cycle of violence.”

Since 2016, EJUSA’s Police-Community Trauma Program, funded in part by the Healthcare Foundation of NJ, has trained 117 police officers and 163 community members in Newark. A new series of trainings will begin later this spring.

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Two more job openings at EJUSA’s Brooklyn Office

EJUSA is in the midst of some exciting transition and expansion, and we are hiring for several positions. Right now, we have three openings, including two in our administrative department in Brooklyn, New York.

We are seeking a sharp, detail-oriented Operations Manager to join our growing team and ensure the effective daily operations of our national and remote offices. We are also looking for a part-time Bookkeeper to manage EJUSA’s day-to-day accounting and financial management functions.

Do either of those sound like you? Check out the full job descriptions and apply here.

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State lawmakers continue re-evaluating the death penalty

We’re less than a quarter into 2018, and the movement to end the death penalty has already made major strides in state capitols around the country.

In Utah, a Republican-sponsored repeal bill passed out of a House committee for the first time ever. Two years ago, Utah came close to ending the death penalty but ran out of time before getting to the House. This year, Utah’s session was extra short, but with strong backing from conservative lawmakers and civic leaders, the state is primed and ready to take repeal the rest of the way in 2019.

Washington’s death penalty also appears to be on its last legs. The Senate voted ‘yes’ on a repeal bill and so did a House committee, leaving just one final hurdle left. But like in Utah, Washington lawmakers ran out of time before they could get the bill to the Governor’s desk. The state, however, was a veritable echo chamber of voices calling for repeal, from families of murder victims, law enforcement, newspaper editorial boards, and, recently, from Kirk Bloodsworth, who had the personal experience of being exonerated from death row. Stay tuned for what is sure to be an exciting campaign next year.

The legislative session in New Hampshire is just beginning – and a bill for repeal was introduced with a bang. More lawmakers have signed on as sponsors in the Senate than are even needed for passage. The Governor has set up a roadblock, saying he will veto the bill. But in the face of such overwhelming support for repeal in the legislature, it doesn’t seem like he’ll be able to hold out forever.

Down south in Louisiana, state lawmakers are just getting down to work at the Capitol. Bills for repeal have been introduced in both the House and Senate. Eleven men have been exonerated from the Louisiana’s death row after evidence of their wrongful conviction was revealed. The state’s capital defense system is so under-funded, many defendants don’t even have lawyers. And last year, a report found that the top four death sentencing counties in Louisiana had high levels of prosecutorial misconduct. In short, the death penalty is a mess – but one that might be cleaned up soon.

In addition to repeal bills, lawmakers in 5 states (Kentucky, South Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia) have considered bills to exempt those with severe mental illness from the death penalty. Florida prosecutors are deciding how to handle the more than 125 cases in which death sentences have been overturned because the U.S. and State Supreme Court’s decisions requiring unanimous juries. And lawmakers in Maryland, New Mexico, and Delaware are poised to defeat or have already defeated efforts to reinstate their death penalty laws.

Photo credit: “New Hampshire capitol” by Michel G. CC BY-NC 2.0, via Flickr.

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Who Has Access to Healing? | Reimagining Justice This Month

Reimagining Justice This Month highlights stories about effective responses to violence – responses that disrupt cycles of violence, heal trauma, and address structural racism.

States Set Aside Millions of Dollars for Crime Victims. But Some Gun Violence Survivors Don’t Get the Funds They Desperately Need, The Trace
Elizabeth Van Brocklin asserts that all victims – whether harmed by mass shootings or neighborhood gun violence – should receive the support they need in the wake of tragedy. She points out the lack of services for those injured in incidents of gun violence, who are disproportionately young black men. Now, Van Brocklin says, some states are beginning to improve access and funds for underserved victims.

Can Police Change Their Mindset from Warriors to Guardians?, The Crime Report
A Fordham Law School panel highlights the recurring tragedy of police-caused homicides in the U.S. One panel member contends that these tragedies should be addressed by “reengineering” police procedures and trainings in ways that encourages them to save lives, not take them.

Communities traumatized by gun violence need mental health care, not more cops, Think NBC News
Camiella Williams provides her perspective on the mental health needs of communities in Chicago. As someone who has been personally affected by gun violence, she argues that we need a national conversation about the lasting effects of gun violence on survivors. She has personally lost 29 loved ones to gun violence and yet has never been offered grief counseling. She writes, “Our mental health is not — and has never been — a concern of our elected officials.”

New Narratives of Hope This Black History Month–And Beyond, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
A recent RWJF-funded survey shows that racial gaps in healthcare have persisted and in some cases worsened since the civil rights era. Dwayne Proctor analyzes these findings and points to specific initiatives that are changing public health narratives. In one example, in Louisville, KY, more than 60 community- and faith-based organizations are working with the Campaign for Black Male Achievement to create “Zones of Hope,” to increase high school graduation rates, improve access to after-school programs, and expand job opportunities.

We Can’t Fight Rape Culture Without Fighting Mass Incarceration, Broadly
The recent #MeToo movement has raised awareness of the institutionalization and widespread problem of sexual assault. However, the most at-risk population is still largely being excluded from the cultural and social dialogue surrounding these conversations. Incarcerated people experience sexual assault at staggering rates, and 1 in 3 transgender prisoners are sexually assaulted while in the U.S. prison system. Aviva Stahl asserts that reckoning with this issue begins with humanizing those currently behind bars.

Bryan Stevenson on What Well-Meaning White People Need to Know About Race, Pacific Standard Magazine
Harvard University-trained public defense lawyer Bryan Stevenson gives an interview on racial trauma, segregation, and listening to marginalized voices, giving deep context to white supremacy: “I genuinely believe that, despite all of that victimization, the worst part of slavery was this narrative that we created about black people—this idea that black people aren’t fully human, that they are three-fifths human, that they are not capable, that they are not evolved. That ideology, which set up white supremacy in America, was the most poisonous and destructive consequence of two centuries of slavery.”

Why Can’t the U.S. Treat Gun Violence as a Public-Health Problem?, The Atlantic
The American Public Health Association and the American Medical Association have both taken to calling gun violence a public-health problem. In 2016, more than 100 medical organizations signed a letter to Congress asking to lift the Dickey Amendment, which forbids the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using money to “advocate or promote gun control.”

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Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty Returns to CPAC

The Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) is the largest and most prominent gathering of conservative activists in the country. It’s also the place that Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty (CCATDP) was first launched five years ago. Tomorrow, CCATDP will be back at CPAC. But, now, things are a little different.

When CCATDP launched at CPAC back in 2013, conference attendees swarmed their booth, saying, “I thought I was the only conservative who wanted to get rid of the death penalty.”

Since that time, conservative proponents of repeal have come out of the woodwork in droves. CCATDP now has hundreds of national supporters, and eleven states have started their own grassroots CCATDP groups.

Prominent conservatives, including Ron Paul, Richard Viguerie, Julie Borowski, Oliver North, Ramesh Ponnuru, Abby Johnson, Jay Sekulow, and many more, have criticized – and even condemned – the death penalty.

The number of Republican state lawmakers to sponsor bills for repeal has more than doubled.

People from all walks of conservative life are saying it’s time to end this fiscally irresponsible government program – one that that risks executing an innocent person and that many feel runs counter to the value of human life.

This year, no one will be surprised to see CCATDP at CPAC. They will be coming home.

If you will be at CPAC, let the team at CCATDP know. Otherwise, you can watch their Twitter feed for updates from the conference, and raise a virtual glass with CCATDP in celebration of five game-changing years.

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You’re invited: ‘Locked In Solidarity’ webinar

I am honored to be participating in this year’s Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) “Locked In Solidarity” event, a national advocacy and action week for mass incarceration. Next Thursday, February 8 at 1:00pm CST, I will present a webinar – “Trauma-Informed Responses to Violence” – with EJUSA Executive Director Shari Silberstein and our Trauma Network manager, Lionel LaTouche.

You are invited!

Our nation’s responses to violence, including mass incarceration and over-policing, have inflicted harm on communities of color throughout the country.

I’m excited to share lessons from EJUSA’s Police/Community Trauma Program, which brings together police officers and community members for dialogue and learning about trauma, racism, and the justice system.

Stream the webinar here on Thursday, 2/8

I hope you can join us next week!

 

The EJUSA Evangelical Network promotes a justice system centered on redemption and healing.

Equal Justice USA is a national organization working to transform the justice system by promoting responses to violence that break cycles of trauma. We have worked with Evangelical leaders across the nation since 2011, leading the way in engaging Evangelicals to speak out against the death penalty. Our EJUSA Evangelical Network unites Evangelicals under a bold vision of justice transformation, so that violence is rare and every community is safe and healthy.

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What Happened to Crime in Camden? | Reimagining Justice This Month

Reimagining Justice This Month highlights stories about effective responses to violence – responses that disrupt cycles of violence, heal trauma, and address structural racism.

What Happened to Crime in Camden?, CityLab
Five years ago, the police department in Camden, NJ was disbanded, reimagined, and born again with fewer officers, lower pay, and a strategic shift toward community policing. In 2017, they had their lowest homicide rate since the 1980s.

‘Bold step’: King County to look at youth crime as public-health risk, The Seattle Times
King County, WA, home of Seattle, announced that its Juvenile Detention Services will aim to create a “trauma-informed” approach to incarcerated youth. The ultimate goal is zero youth incarceration: “Credible research suggests that we can reduce crime by bringing a rehabilitative, public health approach to juvenile justice.”

‘Interrupters’ Peek at Social Media to Stop Street Violence, The New York Times
True2Life, a Cure Violence team in Staten Island, is monitoring social media for threats of violence in order to identify conflicts and stop them before they escalate. These “Interrupters” build relationships and try to steer people away from violence before cycles of trauma can take hold.

Christen Smith on How Trauma from Police Violence Is Killing Black Women, Democracy Now
In a video interview, University of Texas at Austin professor Christen Smith discusses the long-term affects that violence at the hands of police can have, particularly on women of color. “When we think of police lethality, we typically consider the immediate body count: The people that die from bullets and baton blows… But these numbers do not reveal the slow death that black women experience. The long-range trauma police brutality causes can be as deadly as a bullet.”

Redemption for Offenders and Victims, The American Prospect
Restorative justice initiatives continue to spread in cities and states across the nation as judges, prosecutors, survivors, and those who have committed harm seek alternatives to traditional punishments and sentencing. In Boston, one such program is called RISE – Repair, Invest, Succeed, Emerge – and it’s designed to offer people a second chance after they have committed harm.

After Von Maur shooting, Omaha police officers struggled under weight of emotional wounds, Omaha World Herald
Police officers experience trauma, both in their day-to-day duties and in rare situations like mass shootings. Ten years after a mass shooting in Omaha, police there look back on how they supported officers and how systems for addressing trauma have changed, just in the last decade.

Healing from the trauma of crime takes action, Tallahassee Democrat
Miles Mulrain, Jr., a crime survivor and community organizer for Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, argues that in order to prevent violence, there is need for investments in trauma recovery centers, mental health treatment, and drug rehabilitation.

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Watch our transformative work in Newark

Last week, The Grio published an amazing video featuring our program in Newark, which brings police and communities of color together to break barriers and fight to change police culture and behavior. Please take a moment to watch the video, and then share it with your friends and family.

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The Police/Community Trauma Program helps facilitate honest conversations about trauma and violence, and we are proud to share the heartfelt, transformative experiences of program participants in Newark.

Thank you for being a part of this work as we transform the justice system and break the cycles of trauma.

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