Newly elected Philadelphia DA, Larry Krasner, is on a mission to tear down the City's "bigoted and patently unfair systems of mass incarceration," writes Shaun King in his article for TheIntercept.com, titled: " Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner Promised a Criminal Justice Revolution. He's Exceeding Expectations ." Quoting some of the highlights of King's article: So far, having been in office less than three months, he has exceeded expectations. In his first week on the job, he fired 31...

Rocky was raised in Stockton, California, on the far south side. "Further you go, the worser it gets. And we lived at the very end." Rocky’s father, Ronly Rontal, was a small-time hustler who drove a truck and often gathered with his friends to drink whiskey and play guitar on weekends. When he drank, he’d get violent. Rocky wasn’t the oldest or the strongest, but he was the bravest, and so the task of standing up to their father fell to him. It happened most often on the first and the 15th,...

On October 17th I gave a presentation to 70 + attorneys from the Defenders Association.  Several members of this group assisted me by sending me great information about ACEs and the criminal justice system for which I am grateful.  The 3...

Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...

Dr. Vincent Felitti studied the connection between ACEs and health. Unexpectedly, he uncovered for the courts and our community partners a path past our litigants’ “past.” By applying science to what we do every day and responding appropriately to ACEs, we have a chance to change the trajectory of each life we touch. We have an opportunity to change the world if we see it through a trauma lens.

By Sara Coello, December 7, 2020, Post and Courier. At two women’s prisons in South Carolina, butterfly wings spread out across the walls. The murals, at Leath and Camille Graham correctional institutions, are the first stage of a project focused on healing for inmates who have survived sexual and domestic violence. Artist Cathy Salser guided 32 inmates, each of whom decorated one of the 16 panels that make up a butterfly. They painted scenes and scrawled poetry that reminded them of their...

Donna Jackson Nakazawa ( photo by Marshall Clarke ), award winning science journalist and author of Angel and the Assassin , will join Dr. Mimi Graham , director of Florida State University's Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy , Andrea Darr , creator of Handle With Care, Captain Lovetta Quinn-Henry , from the Orlando Police Department and many more featured at the conference. Help your community move the needle toward a trauma-informed, resilient community by learning from...

n February 2017, when Keia Blount was preparing to be released after serving a five-year prison term at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, she had no idea where to go. “Family was not an option to go back to,” she says. “There was nowhere for me to go except for a shelter.” At the last minute, she found Benevolence Farm in Graham, North Carolina, a transitional residential and employment program on an organic farm. She applied, a few members of the staff came to visit her...

Please join us for a new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly virtual Zoom series will feature conversations facilitated by Porter Jennings-McGarity, PACEs Connection’s criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and strategies being used in this area...

Join Pathways to Resilience on Thursday, December 15 at 3 PM ET to hear about how courts in Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee have implemented trauma-informed policies and programs to better support children and families. Many individuals who interact with the justice system have experienced significant trauma. To mitigate the impact of adverse childhood experiences and improve long-term outcomes, some courts have developed programs and policies that train court personnel on the effects...

Information from Summit Brochure and registration site available here . North Carolina’s first Statewide Trauma Summit – a virtual and in-person summit – will beheld Thursday and Friday, April 27-28, in Raleigh, at The McKimmon Conference and Training Center, Summit leaders announced recently. “Momentum is growing in NC for building trauma-informed systems that strengthen resilience and weed out systemic and often intergenerational sources of child trauma. To advance this work, it is...