Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

For nearly three decades, I have been among those promoting an idea of progressive law practice that complements, meshes with, and, at its best, serves as one shining example of my rebellious philosophy. And the Center for Community Problem Solving at New York University, which I launched in September 2003 and which I direct, puts into action a brand of effective and accountable problem solving that aims to earn each day and over time the label rebellious . We at the center work with many diverse people and institutions addressing a diverse slate of social, economic, and legal challenges. But perhaps no aspect of our work portfolio more vividly demonstrates how my earliest childhood experiences shape our current vision of practice than our center's campaign to keep people out of the criminal justice system - everyone from youth we hope never get entangled to those with criminal records we hope never again see the inside of a prison or a jail. Our campaign can be understood as our center's opposition to and my career-long battle against the “modern war on crime.” Through a set of almost unimaginably irrational, mean-spirited, and ultimately dysfunctional policies and practices, this nation's war on crime closely monitors vulgarly “profiled” individuals and groups, hassles them whenever possible, arrests them often without legal justifica-tion and for concocted reasons, prosecutes ... log in or subscribe to read full text