Ending Mass Incarceration

"It is consistent with the mission of NCAJ to acknowledge the issue of mass incarceration, the dire human and economic toll it has taken on North Carolina citizens, and the need for meaningful criminal justice reform. The issue of mass incarceration poses a threat to our democracy and to the rights of citizens both nationally and in North Carolina."

       - NCAJ Board of Governors Resolution on Mass Incarceration, Oct 2015.  Full text

UNDERSTANDING CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO MASS INCARCERATION OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

UPCOMING AND RECENT EVENTS

• Prison Policiy Initiative - NC profile
•  Everything That's Wrong With Mass Incarceration, in One Film
• Shriver Center and Vera Institute for Justice: April 28 webinar on Fair Housing Rights for People with Criminal Records
• National Reentry Week is April 24-30, 2016
• April 5: NCAJ Mass Incarceration Task Force 12:00 pm Conference Call
• April 1, 2016 WFU Symposium:  Implementing De-Incarceration Strategies:  Policies and Practices to Reduce Crime and Mass Incarceration
• NCAJ President Chris Nichols appoints Mass Incarceration Task Force Members (listed below)
• NCAJ announces that Cynthia Jones, Professor of Law, American University, will be keynote speaker at NCAJ's Annual Convention in Wilmington in July 2016.
• NCAJ guest blog post on Mass Incarceration, 11/12/2015
• Bill Keller, Editor-in-Chief of The Marshall Project, moderated a conversation on criminal justice reform featuring President Barack Obama and two law enforcement leaders on Oct 22. video here 
• NCAJ co-sponsored the NC-CRED Mass Incarceration Symposium, held October 1, 2015
• North Carolina Advocates for Justice and the NC-NAACP New Hanover County Branch sponsored a Community Meeting on the School to Prison Pipeline Crisis in April 2014 in Wilmington. For a full list of speakers, click here.

HOW YOU CAN HELP 

Contact NCAJ to apply to join its taskforce fighting mass incarceration
Support the Ban the Box Community Initiative
Get involved with Families Against Mandatory Minimums

IN THE NEWS

N.C. squandered millions for prison mental health reform, whistleblower says

Local fixes key to criminal justice reform: Column

This small Indiana county sends more people to prison than San Francisco and Durham, N.C., combined. Why?

N.C. public wants criminal justice reform
Federal Task Force Recommends Reducing Number Of Inmates By 60,000 In 10 Years
Judge Regrets Harsh Human Toll of Mandatory Minimum Sentences
Racism and Mass Incarceration in the US Heartland: Historical Roots of the New Jim Crow
Charles Koch Institute - Criminal Justice/Policing Reform videos (October 2015)
Brennan Center for Justice's Reverse Mass Incarceration Act (October 2015)
Obama Previews his criminal justice reform tour, CBS News (October 2015)
Law Enforcement Leaders To Reduce Crime and Incarceration
John Legend: We Must Help Former Prisoners Get Jobs, Time  (October 2015)
Police Leaders Join Call to Cut Prison Rosters, New York Times (October 2015)

How All New Yorkers Killed Kalief Browder, New York Magazine (2015)
Teen Boy Will Be Charged As Adult For Having Naked Pics of a Minor: Himself
Young Black Man Jailed Since April for Alleged $5 Theft Found Dead in Cell
In NC, Blacks Constitute 62% of all Marijuana Charges
End Mass Incarceration Now, New York Times (2014)

TASK FORCE MEMBERS

Chair: Christopher Nichols, Nichols Law Firm
Brad Bannon, Patterson Harkavy LLP
Dawn Blagrove, Carolina Justice Policy Center
Meghan Burke, Brazil & Burke, P.A.
Tarrah Callahan, Conservatives for Criminal Justice Reform
Reid Cater, NC Prisoner Legal Services
Damon Cheston, The Chetson Firm, PLLC
Kelly Clarke, Legal Aid of North Carolina
Erin Comerford, Comerford & Britt, LLP
Bruce Cunningham, Law Office of Bruce T. Cunningham, Jr.
Premela Deck, JD/MSW
Andrew Desimone, Office of the Appellate Defender    
Jennifer Fleet, Fleet Law PLLC
Chris Fialko, Fialko Law PLLC       
Christopher Heaney, NC Prisoner Legal Services
George Hausen, Executive Director, Legal Aid of North Carolina
Valerie Johnson, Copeley Johnson & Groninger PLLC
Leah Kane, Legal Services of Southern Piedmont
Kevin Murtagh, 3L, Wake Forest School of Law
Ashley Nielsen, Law Clerk to the Honorable Cheri Beasley
Sonya Pfeiffer, Rudolf  Widenhouse
Mary Pollard, NC Prisoner Legal Services
Toussaint C Romain, Assistant Public Defender, Meck. County
Kenneth Schorr, Legal Services of Southern Piedmont
Erica Smith-Ingram, Senator       
Kim Taylor, Kimberly S. Taylor, PLLC        
Deonte Thomas, Assistant Public Defender, Wake County
Noell Tin, Tin Fulton Walker & Owen
Don Vaughan,  Don Vaughan and Associates