Join our first ever statewide UU FaithAction “common read” book group for Danielle Sered’s amazing book on restorative (versus solely punitive) justice practices, Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration and a Road to Repair
When: March-May, 2020 – 5 sessions – daytime, evening and weekend groups
Dates (Select one group):
DAYTIME Group: Wednesdays 2:30-4:00 PM 3/18, 4/1, 4/15, 4/29, 5/13
EVENINGS Group: Wednesdays 7:30-9:00 PM 3/18, 4/1, 4/15, 4/29, 5/13
WEEKENDS Group: Sundays 4:00-5:30 PM 3/22, 4/5, 4/19, 5/3, 5/17
Where: Statewide Zoom call (Zoom is a free video/phone conference call app–easy to use!)
Why: To discuss ground-breaking approaches to violent crime which increase safety, address victim concerns, and at the same time help to end mass incarceration
How: If you are interested, please contact Tricia Idrobo by February 14, 2020, at pfressidrobo@hotmail.com. Let her know your name, congregation, email, and which group you wish to join.
Many criminal justice-related bills in the NJ Assembly and Senate make reforms to the current system. While these are often necessary, many involved in penal reform—including our own Criminal Justice Reform Task Force–would like to rethink some of the basic premises that have sabotaged the original idea of “rehabilitation” in favor of retribution.
The relatively recent field of restorative justice, in which victims, offenders and affected communities come together to heal the damage caused by specific crimes—offers a way forward in alignment with UU principles and a deeper investment in actual healing and “corrections,” which also take into account historical and institutional racism.
In restorative practices, offenders are held accountable and must make things right for victims in ways unavailable in our current mass incarceration culture. However, until now most restorative justice efforts have been used primarily with nonviolent offenders. The book we propose as our first ever statewide “common read,” Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration and a Road to Repair by Danielle Sered (full description below) is about using restorative justice approaches for violent crimes. While many people cannot imagine such a scenario, Sered makes a very convincing case based on her on-the-ground experience directing Common Justice in New York City.
Publisher description of Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration and a Road to Repair, by Danielle Sered
Although over half the people incarcerated in America today have committed violent offenses, the focus of reformers has been almost entirely on nonviolent and drug offenses. Danielle Sered’s brilliant and groundbreaking Until We Reckon steers directly and unapologetically into the question of violence, offering approaches that will help end mass incarceration and increase safety.
Widely recognized as one of the leading proponents of a restorative approach to violent crime, Sered asks us to reconsider the purposes of incarceration and argues persuasively that the needs of survivors of violent crime are better met by asking people who commit violence to accept responsibility for their actions and make amends in ways that are meaningful to those they have hurt—none of which happens in the context of a criminal trial or a prison sentence.
Sered launched and directs Common Justice, one of the few organizations offering alternatives to incarceration for people who commit serious violent crime, and which has produced immensely promising results.
Critically, Sered argues that the reckoning owed is not only on the part of those who have committed violence, but also by our nation’s over reliance on incarceration to produce safety—at great cost to communities, survivors, racial equity, and the very fabric of our democracy.