“If you want to know where to go for square one” to prevent violence, according to Reform Alliance CEO Robert Rooks, then “talk to the people who have been impacted. They’ll show you the way.”
Rooks offered this pathway to solutions in conversation with Orange is the New Black author Piper Kerman and journalist/author Emily Bazelon at last month’s Ideas We Should Steal Festival presented by Comcast NBC Universal.
The trio of criminal justice experts took on the prison industrial complex, in a panel sponsored by Fanatics/Reform Alliance, by offering new ways to envision safety, solutions to violence and ideas for prevention—all in the name of achieving what they contend is achievable: Keeping people out of prison and keeping people safe.
“It’s very important to remember—particularly in the face of things like the homicide rate in Philadelphia—that punishment is not the same thing as prevention,” Kerman said.
“It’s very important to remember—particularly in the face of things like the homicide rate in Philadelphia—that punishment is not the same thing as prevention,” Kerman said.
“I say if crime’s gone up, let’s put more peace interventionists on the street,” Rooks added. “If crime’s gone up, let’s open up more Boys & Girls Clubs and parks. If crime’s gone up, let’s give more people jobs.”
Check out their full panel discussion below.
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Header photo by Sabina Louise Pierce