Dean Emilie Townes: "How can we help people avoid re-incarceration? Building capacity in people by partnering with communities of faith”

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Del curso dictado por Vanderbilt University

Justice, Mercy and Mass Incarceration

22 calificaciones

Vanderbilt University

Justice, Mercy and Mass Incarceration

22 calificaciones

There are three orienting facts that render mass incarceration in the United States an ethical problem worthy of our deep consideration. First, the rate of incarceration has grown dramatically over the last 40 years so that today there are 2.2 million people in prison or jail, and another 5 million on probation or parole. This means that 1/32 adults in the USA are under state supervision. Second, the application of incarceration is disproportionately applied to the poor, people of color, and other vulnerable populations. Research shows that 85-90% of those in the criminal justice system fall below the poverty line, and the experience of incarceration only impoverishes people further. The consequences of having a criminal record are harsh and debilitating, ranging from family disruption, social alienation, and disenfranchisement. In these ways and others, the current situation of crime and punishment represents a dramatic moral challenge. Finally, victims of crime are themselves poorly served by the current system, often ignored or sidelined in the machinery of punishment. This course seeks to discover alternatives to the current systems of crime and punishment in order to imagine a more inclusive, just and moral society.

De la lección

Justice and Mercy: Alternatives to Mass Incareration

The course has examined mass incarceration as a significant social and ethical problem. In this final module, we turn our attention to alternatives to the present system of punishment. Following Dean Townes' invitation, we seek to "respond to the dehumanizing effects of imprisonment." We explore community policing, criminal justice reform, and alternative models, including restorative justice, in a bid to locate possibilities for hope.

Dean Emilie Townes: “How do we reconcile faith and mass incarceration?”6:39

Dean Emilie Townes: "How do we respond to dehumanizing effects of imprisonment"6:58

Dean Emilie Townes: "How can we help people avoid re-incarceration? Building capacity in people by partnering with communities of faith”5:53

Conoce a los instructores

Graham Reside
Assistant Professor
Vanderbilt University Divinity School

So, another effect, you know we now have

2.2 million citizens incarcerated the United States.

We have another five million who are under criminal supervision by parole or probation.

So that's over seven million Americans adults who are under criminal,

surveillance by the criminal justice system.

The effects and that's a huge growth since 1980 to now,

it's enormous growth from about 300,000 to 2.2 million and then 7 million total.

The effects on the families and communities.

These are not, it's not just the effects on the particular folks

that find themselves locked up or under supervision.

But one out of nine kids will have a parent who is incarcerated.

What I find so intereseting when going into the prisons is that,

this is maybe common sense.

Now when I think about my own life.

But you're most likely to commit a crime between 18 and 35.

So we're taking people in that period of life when they're going to be,

partnering, if they're going to have kids,

it's when they're going to have children.

It's when their careers are going to get launched

and we're taking them away in that time period.

The effects of that on their families and on their communities are profound.

And again I wonder what we can inspire

our students to do and think about as people who will

lead communities of faith to address some of those issues.

As so often are communities of faith,

sort of go through what may well be a default mode.

Or we'll come up with a ministry for them.

They come up with a ministry for whatever.

And in this case it would be either ex-offenders

or support groups for families who've suffered violence at the hand of whatever.

And I think those are actually needed.

I'm not going to be the person that says they're

inconsequential and not effective because people need a,

if a complex matrix of stuff got you there,

a complex matrix of stuff is going to help you stay

out of there once you get out and it can't just be one thing.

So one of the things that I think is important for

us to think about in religious communities,

is how can we partner with organizations in our communities who

may have a little bit more knowledge about working

with ex-offenders or offenders and families,

and figure out how we can be the partner that provides

not only physical needs that might be present or tangible needs that might be present,

but those spiritual resources that folks are going to need.

Those things that you can't really slap a dollar figure on.

What does it mean when somebody is trying their best

not to slip back into the behavior they know so well?

That has been profitable for some.

And that's across the board.

When you think about what get,

lands people in jail in terms of the degree of crimes committed.

How can you use the talent you have that makes you a

criminal into something that's constructive on behalf of society?

I often wonder that when I'm looking at shows like,

that greed show that's on A&E every once in a while.

I can't remember the exact title but it's all about how

people who are really good at bilking people out of

their money use that talent to bilk people out of

their money instead of putting it to constructive purposes.

Imagine what would happen if we gave people entrées into doing constructive things?

How can religious communities be that place where some of that

happens in terms of something,

that some of the more entrepreneurial functions

that churches are having to pick up now in order

to stay alive but to do it legally,

first of all, and constructively, second of all.

But also the one thing that we should be doing well is

helping people think about the, the really deep,

what I'm calling here spiritual resources,

you need to cultivate in order to keep yourself

centered enough to be a productive citizen in

this republic of ours called

the United States and to be aware that it's real easy to fall off.

And so this can't be something that's simplistic.

Like a list of do's and don'ts, that's not going to help.

But helping people cultivate practices would

be what I would hope that our students would learn how

to do so that we help people become the best people they can be.

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