ICPJ
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Announcements:
Opening Reception for Ron Haviv Photo Exhibit
Join us for the opening reception of The Children of Darfur photo exhibit by Ron Haviv at The Heartland Cafe in Rogers Park.
The photos are powerful and should not be missed!
More information on the event can be found at: http://www.amnestyusa.org/Our_Priorities/Darfur/page.do?id=1351048&n1=3&n2=52.
Posted on 4/29/08 by Miodonski2428
Stand for Justice
Posted on 12/1/07 by Sankofa
Resource of the Month: The Story of Stuff
What better resource of the month for our newly renamed coalition: Illinois Coalition for Justice Peace and the Environment than one that could save you money, break your shopping habit and help find the resolve to save planet!
The Story of Stuff
Watch the short YouTube premier here:
The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns, with a special focus on the United States. All the stuff in our lives, beginning from the extraction of the resources to make it, through its production, sale, use and disposal, affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues and calls for all of us to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something. It'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
Watch the 20 minute video HERE.
ICJPE Resources and Education Committee
Resource of the Month: Winter Soldier Live Broadcasts
You can learn bout and watch explosive Winter Soldier testimony on the Iraq Veterans Against the War website. Here's a sample from YouTube:
Posted by the ICPJ Resource and Education Committee
Resources of the Month
The Featured Resources this month are:
Blackwater Invades Illinois, a video presentation of Jeremy Scahill’s talk on Blackwater, produced by Mike Barr at the behest of the Clearwater Working Group.
Reading Room: Articles about Iran is a comprehensive listing of articles and information from the No War on Iran Coalition, a working group of the Illinois Coalition for Peace and Justice.
Cost of War
Two things we can all do online right now to increase peace & justice.
Watch and email the Cost of War on YouTube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnq6cD5jk1Q
Find out more about a coalition campaigning to end poverty in Illinois, working with peace & justice legislator Karen Yarbrough. From the website...
"The human rights movement in Illinois continues to move forward as we work to establish a Commission on Poverty Eradication in Illinois that is grounded in international human rights standards. Representative Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) has introduced the legislation – House Bill 4369 – to establish the commission. An identical bill will be introduced in the Senate by Senator Michael Frerichs (D – Champaign) in the coming weeks.
In addition to establishing the commission, the campaign is seeking for the governor to include in his next budget resources – $450,000 – to fund the work of the commission. This money would cover the costs of both operating the commission and of creating the poverty eradication strategy that will cut extreme poverty in half by 2015."
For more information see http://povertytoopportunity.blogspot.com
Governor Patrick Acts on CORI Reform
by Sarah Comptom, Criminal Justice Policy Coalition
Note: MAPJEN member group New Vision Organization, Inc. (http://mysite.verizon.net/bizuiard/newvisionorg2) has been working hard on the prison abuse/prison reform issue in cooperation with a number of organizations. Here is an update on some developments
Dear Friends,
As many of you know, Governor Patrick convened a working group in September to study possible changes to the Commonwealth's current Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) system. The group consisted of cabinet secretaries, legislators and others who heard from a number of stakeholders through a public hearing and roundtable discussions (in which CJPC was a participant). The group has reported its findings to the governor and Gov. Patrick is now finalizing a plan for changes to the CORI system which will be released early next week. I wanted to let you know some of the key elements of the governor's plan.
As anticipated, a number of administrative changes will be made, which do not involve legislation. The governor's plan will incorporate a finger print-based system to address problems of efficiency and accuracy within the CORI system itself, and will also respond to the need for expanded training of both Criminal History Systems Board employees as well as employees of companies that review CORI records.
The governor's administrative changes will also address current restrictions within the Executive Office of Health and Human Services which create barriers for individuals with CORIs who seek health and human services jobs--and in some cases, bar them from working within those fields.
Along with his administrative changes, Gov. Patrick will submit accompanying legislation that would change the time period when a CORI record can be sealed from 10 years for a misdemeanor and 15 years for a felony (following court oversight) to 5 years for a misdemeanor and 10 years for a felony (also following court oversight).
We will provide details of the governor's plan, including proposed legislation and administrative changes, when they become available, along with our evaluation, insight and action steps.
I wish you all happy holidays and look forward to working with you on this and other issues in the new year!
Sarah Compton
Executive Director
Criminal Justice Policy Coalition
101 Tremont Street, Suite 416, Boston, MA 02108
www.cjpc.org / email:admin@cjpc.org