On Our Radar: November 08, 2022

Welcome back to NAPD's On Our Radar blog series, where we let you know about new projects, new publications, and other interesting tidbits that may be relevant to your interests and your work in public defense. At least once per month, we'll round up links to several things we think you'd like to know about! Check out what's new On Our Radar below:
 

1. NEW STUDY! – The Limits of Recidivism: Measuring Success After Prison, released by the National Academies Press last month, reports on the inadequacies of current standards for measuring success after release from prison, as well as the context and factors which are missing from the concept of recidivism itself. Read the full report free online at: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/26459/chapter/1 

2. NEW RESOLUTION! – 10 Principles on Reducing Mass Incarceration, AKA Resolution 604, was passed by the ABA last month. The principles include limits on the use of pretrial detention, abolition of mandatory minimums, and increased opportunities for compassionate release. Read more about the principles at: https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/resolutions-604-and-502-aba-provides-guidance-on-ending-mass-incarceration-and-lengthy-prison-sentences 

3. NEW DATABASE! – The Prison Industry Corporate Database takes a deep dive look at each corporation that benefits financially from the US prison system in a searchable database that can be filtered by those who support prison labor, those who are involved in immigration detention, and more. The database also calculates a “Harm Score” for each listed corporation. See more at: https://data.worthrises.org/ 

4. NEW BOOK RELEASE! – Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality by Tomiko Brown-Nagin, released earlier this year, details the life of “an activist lawyer who became the first black woman appointed to the federal judiciary,” and the first black woman to argue in front of the US Supreme Court. Read more and purchase at: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/563298/civil-rights-queen-by-tomiko-brown-nagin/ 

5. SPOTLIGHT! – Reuben Jonathan Miller (sociologist, criminologist, researcher, and author of Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, & The Afterlife of Mass Incarceration) was named one of 2022’s MacArthur Fellows earlier this month for his ethnographic research on the impact of the American jail and prison systems on the incarcerated and the aftermaths of imprisonment. Read more about his work and fellowship here: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/reuben-jonathan-miller-scholar-mass-incarceration-awarded-macarthur-fellowship 

See something you think we should feature next time? Send us an email at: engage@publicdefenders.us
 

Note: The views and opinions expressed in the items listed do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of NAPD.