A New Approach to Victim Services: The Common Justice Demonstration Project

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Sered
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Crime Victims ◽  
Community Members ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Victim Services ◽  
Men Of Color ◽  
The Common ◽  
Sense Of Justice

Common Justice, based in Brooklyn, New York, brings together those most immediately affected by a crime—the victim, the perpetrator, and family and community members with a stake in the outcome—for a face-to-face dialogue to determine an appropriate response to the harm caused. After an extensive review, project planners concluded that no nationally viable, victim-centered model addressed the needs arising from serious violence or equitably facilitated the recovery of underserved crime victims, particularly young men of color. Common Justice hopes to contribute a model that will significantly improve the field's capacity to rectify a long-lasting and harmful inequity in the criminal justice system, as well as increase the likelihood that a greater portion of those harmed by crime will be met with a response that advances their sense of justice and feeling of safety in the aftermath of what they endured.

America’s First Memorial Honoring Survivors of Sexual Violence

2022 ◽  
pp. 088626052110675
Author(s):  
Alexa Sardina ◽  
Nicole Fox
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Local Leadership ◽  
Global Trend ◽  
Feminist Movements ◽  
Sense Of Justice ◽  
Legal Interventions

Over the past two decades, America taken part of a broader global trend of “memorial mania” in which memorials dedicated to remembering injustice have exploded into public space. Memorials that facilitate the centering of marginalized narratives of violence hold significant power for social change. This article focuses on one such space: The Survivors Memorial in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Survivors Memorial opened in October 2020 and is the first public memorial honoring survivors of sexual violence. Despite the progress of the anti-rape and feminist movements as well as a variety of legal interventions designed to address sexual violence and empower, many survivors are left without a sense of justice or institutional or community recognition. Drawing on 21 in-depth, qualitative interviews with individuals involved in all aspects of the memorial project, this article documents how one community mobilized to create a space for survivors whose voices are often overlooked, disbelieved and silenced by the criminal justice system, practitioners, and communities. In focusing on how participants narrate the significance and meaning of the Survivors Memorial, this article uncovers how social, political, and local circumstances coalesced to make the Memorial possible. These factors include local leadership, the prevalence of sexual violence, the unique structure of the Minneapolis park structure, and the rise of the #MeToo movement. Interviews illuminate that participants worked to intentionally construct the Memorial as an accessible and visible space that centers on providing all sexual violence survivors with public acknowledgment of their experiences, while simultaneously engaging community members in dialogs about sexual violence, ultimately, laying the foundation for sexual violence prevention efforts.

Victims, the Forgotten Party in the Criminal Justices System: The Perception and Experiences of Crime Victims in Kumasi Metropolis in Ghana

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-128
Author(s):  
Kwadwo Ofori-Dua ◽  
Nachinaab John Onzaberigu ◽  
Richard Kofi Nimako
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Crime Victims ◽  
Sampling Techniques ◽  
Crime Victim ◽  
Violent Crimes ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Qualitative Technique ◽  
Medical Bills

Crime victims are an integral part of the criminal justice system. There has been recurrent consensus of opinion that without crime victims there can be no effective prosecution. Nevertheless, most studies have been crime-offender-centred. This research explored the experiences of the crime victim in the criminal justice system. Methodologically, this study employed a qualitative technique, face-to-face interviews to collect data. Purposive, snowball, expert sampling techniques were used to select respondents. The study revealed that although most crime victims were satisfied at the reporting stage, they were dissatisfied getting to the end of the criminal justice system process. Victims of offences as robbery and defrauding wanted their monies back after the imprisonment of offender whilst victims of violent crimes like rape, assault and murder want compensation to foot medical bills and other losses they incurred. Victims generally perceive that prosecution and conviction given to perpetrators were not deterring enough. The findings showed that crime victims felt re-victimised by CJS officials; especially because they were not treated with human dignity and the victims had many interesting conceptions of ‘being treated with dignity’ and ‘not being treated with dignity. The study concluded that the CJS should administer justice expeditiously and should be more inclusive.

PAR Method

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Billies
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Context Analysis ◽  
Gender Nonconforming ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender

The work of the Welfare Warriors Research Collaborative (WWRC), a participatory action research (PAR) project that looks at how low income lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming (LG-BTGNC) people survive and resist violence and discrimination in New York City, raises the question of what it means to make conscientization, or critical consciousness, a core feature of PAR. Guishard's (2009) reconceptualization of conscientization as “moments of consciousness” provides a new way of looking at what seemed to be missing from WWRC's process and analysis. According to Guishard, rather than a singular awakening, critical consciousness emerges continually through interactions with others and the social context. Analysis of the WWRC's process demonstrates that PAR researchers doing “PAR deep” (Fine, 2008)—research in which community members share in all aspects of design, method, analysis and product development—should have an agenda for developing critical consciousness, just as they would have agendas for participation, for action, and for research.

Community-based? Asian American Students, Parents, and Teachers in the Shifting Chinatowns of New York and Los Angeles

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benji Chang ◽  
Juhyung Lee
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Asian American Students ◽  
Education Experience ◽  
American Students ◽  
Community Organizers ◽  
Holistic Vision

This article examines the experiences of children, parents, and teachers in the New York and Los Angeles Chinatown public schools, as observed by two classroom educators, one based in each city. The authors document trends among the transnational East and Southeast Asian families that comprise the majority in the local Chinatown schools and discuss some of the key intersections of communities and identities within those schools, as well as the pedagogies that try to build upon these intersections in the name of student empowerment and a more holistic vision of student achievement. Ultimately, this article seeks to bring forth the unique perspectives of Chinatown community members and explore how students, families, teachers, school staff and administrators, and community organizers can collaborate to actualize a more transformative public education experience.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document