Session Code: AAJ159PL
Session Time: Friday, Nov. 20 Breakfast Plenary, AAJ Miami 8:00 am – 9:30 am, 2015 AIA AAJ Fall Conference
Van Jones, DreamCorps President & Co-Founder | Matt Haney, DreamCorps Director of Policy
Shaka Senghor, DreamCorps Director of Strategy and Innovation | Julia Hughes, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
I had a chance to interview Julia Hughes, one of the speakers who is heavily involved in leading this Plenary Session. Julia Hughes, AIA, LEED AP BD+C currently chairs the AAJ Sustainable Justice Committee and has been instrumental in promoting SJ advocacy and its unique and critical role in creating healthy communities. Hughes led a pilot study of SJ projects that she also developed into Sustainable Justice Case Studies. Hughes' commitment to purposeful architecture has produced award-winning facilities from the east to the west coast that are living, breathing examples of SJ Principles in practice. Hughes has expanded awareness of SJ to TEDx and Greenbuild and was recently invited to share with international communities including Greenbuilding Brasil, 7th Annual Conference of Criminology and Criminal Justice in Hong Kong and the 13th Thirteenth United Nations Congress of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Qatar. As a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Correctional News, Hughes contributed articles throughout the year that focus on sustainability and resiliency in justice.
1. What regions of the country are publicly unified in seeking better solutions to restore justice? Is this a general sentiment or are certain areas of the country in particular crying out for change?
"A decade ago, restorative justice was understood in small pockets throughout the country but founders of these philosophies have been working toward change for much longer, particularly within the AAJ community. We had about a dozen contributors to the Green Guide to Justice white paper, which was our seminal amalgamation of truly sustainable concepts that have influenced projects across the country in countless ways.
Over the past year the conversation about justice reform has exploded in the media--you can't read the news or listen to the talking heads--or even watch Comedy Central without catching a passionate plea for change in our justice system. Thanks to solid research and performance data developed over the past couple of years by organizations like the Bureau of Justice, Vera Institute, National Institute of Justice and Pew Research Center revealing many unintended consequences of mass incarceration, advocates are able to provide empirical evidence as compelling context for a move toward restorative justice reform.
We'll talk more about this during the Friday plenary with DreamCorps and other panelists, but there are likely several drivers for the recent surge in public sentiment seeking change, which has created a "perfect storm" for a conversation about justice reform. These issues are all embedded in challenges within the criminal justice system that call attention to the need to justice better:
- In addition to our current political climate that often provides a platform for social critique and an attentive audience looking for inspiration and hope in our future, the country is still struggling with economic constrictions and statistics showing billions spent on incarceration despite a 50% recidivism rate raises concern.
- Also, recent events throughout the country call into question our culture of public safety and how it is being delivered; with the help of advancements in technology driving the prevalence of sophisticated cell phone cameras, we are seeing “community policing” in a capacity like never before.
- And open and honest conversations about race and disadvantaged communities and the mentally ill are becoming more frequent and more informative.
- We’ll also talk with DreamCorps about a few interesting political anomalies that eclipse ideological differences and create opportunities for each side to coalesce and innovate pragmatic solutions.
Are some parts of the country making more progress than others? The panel will discuss what’s happening where and why. Many state legislatures and governing bodies are reducing the incarcerated population (which, by the way, isn’t the sole indicator of strength in a reformed justice system but a good one) and progress is being made in other ways, too. I think communities that are hardest hit sometimes act more intently, perhaps from a stronger impetus for change. In many ways, hardest-hit communities with the least provisions and political influence can often be the most unified and organized in creating the change they want to see. But when the need to direct precious resources more successfully can partner with initiatives, programs and actions that produce universally beneficial, sustainable, resilient and restorative outcomes for our communities, real change can happen anywhere.
Also, when the research is placed within specific impacts on communities, and as more and more voices in government and in the entertainment industry aim focus and use their powerful voices to plead for change, people start paying attention and justice reform becomes a topic at the dinner table with everyone asking questions."
2. You mention initiatives/programs (as well as some examples) are in place for lessons learned as a standard to implement – can you expand on what those initiatives are or on one of those examples?
"We'll review a few of these during the plenary as well and will talk with DreamCorps about the database they've discussed that will provide an invaluable resource for the varied programs and changes in legislation that have been implemented across the country that are affecting improved incarceration and recidivism rates, alternatives to incarceration and successful re-entry—and many other examples of reform. You can also check out the bipartisansummit.org website, which links to YouTube videos of many of the speakers, sharing their own compelling stories of change."
3. The abstract also mentions “600 law makers and criminal justice leaders gathered to agree on one thing: Now is the time for Criminal Justice Reform” – in your own words what do you think Criminal Justice Reform means for our current time? And what trends for social change that affect the planning, design, and operation of criminal justice facilities will you discuss?
"I never watched the political television drama series West Wing, which I understand was widely acclaimed and also known for romanticizing politics (although isn’t that what politics is—theater?) but I did happen to catch a couple of episodes on Netflix recently from the 2000 season. It was both ironic and disturbing that the hot political topics in the storylines could literally be taken from today’s news headlines. In fact, a key focus was the failed war on drugs and its impact on mass incarceration and we are still having the same conversation.
However, I’ve been thrilled to see and hear justice reform discussed so openly in media and entertainment lately. And when I discovered the Bipartisan Summit on Criminal Justice Reform earlier this year, I nearly fell off my chair! Those of us in our small Sustainable Justice Committee have been talking about restorative justice for almost a decade now (although it’s surprising how many in the AAJ community still think our committee’s focus is green design and building performance…) Restorative justice has been a core focus in the practice of my mentors in justice architecture much, much longer than that. For high profile political powerhouses to unite so strongly and for celebrities and other influential voices to speak out about the need for the change that advocates like me have worked hard to progress made me realize this might actually be a tipping point for the country. We’re running a marathon, not a sprint, but it could very well bring the kind of societal change that shifts generational development. I can't wait to see what happens next.
DreamCorps teamed up with influential politicians including Newt Gingrich to develop the Summit. I caught up with him and his wife, Callista, while they were in town for a book signing a couple of weeks ago. I introduced myself and my focus in justice reform and mentioned that I’d invited DreamCorps to share highlights of the Summit with AAJ in Miami and asked Mr. Gingrich what influenced his interest in justice reform. His face lit up and he mentioned a couple of colleagues who reached out and got his attention—namely Pat Nolan, who was also a founder of the Summit. Pat Nolan was a leader on crime issues during his 15-year service in the California State Assembly with four of those years as the Assembly Republican Leader and a member of the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. From his perspective of a die-hard Republican, “who inherently distrusts government and favors freedom, you can’t look at the number of people in jail in the U.S. and not be troubled.” And he repeated that the monumental impact of the #cut50 initiative to reduce the incarceration rate by 50% got his attention. This is the great opportunity we have—now that people are paying attention—to continue sharing the initiatives and programs and changes in legislation that are already measurably impacting a renewed approach to justice in our communities, so that these successes can inspire further action and proliferate change everywhere.
People have varied interests and opinions and understandings about restorative justice or sustainability. As our Sustainable Justice advocacy evolved, I found that the social equity aspect resonated most personally with me and I honed my own definition of sustainable, resilient and restorative justice: the most valuable, non-renewable resource of any community and perhaps the ultimate definition of sustainability is investing in and restoring the human potential of all citizens by protecting human rights, re-instilling dignity and successfully reintegrating citizens as productive members of society. A social structure that strives for equity through truth and transparency must also incorporate successful ways to value all community members.
I love a quote I’ve read of Van Jones, Founder of DreamCorps, “We are wasting a ton of genius in this country.” Over time, this focus on the human potential has become a core component of our advocacy and part of the lexicon of restorative justice. After all, sustainability is, fundamentally, about human life and I have yet to discover a better example of sustainability than restoring faith and commitment in someone who has earned a second chance to re-engage and prove their renewed commitment to their communities.
Of course the big question is how do these transformations help us be better justice planners and architects? The panel will discuss opportunities to engage resources that help leverage our roles as catalysts and drivers of projects, owners and outcomes towards more restorative goals and the Restorative Justice Visioning sessions that will follow the plenary will also demonstrate how to collaborate with leaders in the justice system and the communities it serves to help define collective needs and goals for sustainability."
4. Lastly, can you tell me about how you became a criminal justice specialist and what you are most passionate about in this field?
"Several years ago I fell into a great justice planning and architecture firm (the RicciGreene studio in NYC)--somewhat by accident. I embrace challenges within justice architecture to create excellent architecture and transform expectations of what justice facility design can be. I soon recognized our role as architects in a broader system that directly impacts people's lives and the unique opportunity we have to create meaningful change through the behavioral, psychological and physiological impacts of purposeful architecture. In developing the restorative justice advocacy I was also inspired to share a broader definition of sustainability within and outside of the justice community—that can be applied to other architectural fields as well.
I had a significant experience while I was leading the design of the Union County Juvenile Detention Facility and working with facility staff, namely Officer Rodriguez, which stuck with me all these years. Rodriguez shared an anecdote about having dinner with his family in a restaurant one night when a young man who approached his table. The man wanted to thank Rodriguez for spending 20 minutes talking with him one night during his stay at the facility years back and shared that this interaction with Rodriguez influenced a 180 degree shift in his life as a troubled kid... and set him on a trajectory to stay in school, get a degree, successfully marry and raise a couple of great kids. Not only was this young man's future turned around with a single interaction, but one could argue that future generations of his family were also impacted and the cycle of incarceration was stopped in its tracks. It’s a perfect example of possibility and hope in the human potential."
*****
Thank you Julia Hughes for taking the time to interview and give the AIA & AIA AAJ Community a sneak peak of this upcoming session!
Speaker Bios:
Van Jones, DreamCorps President & Co-Founder, is a frequent CNN political commentator and a Yale-educated attorney and the author of two New York Times best-selling books, The Green Collar Economy (2008) and Rebuild the Dream (2012, which chronicles his journey as an environmental and human rights activist to becoming a White House policy advisor.) He was the main advocate for the Green Jobs Act signed into law by George W. Bush in 2007. In 2009, Jones worked as the green jobs advisor to President Barack Obama to lead the inter-agency process that oversaw the multi-billion dollar investment in skills training and jobs. Jones has been honored with the World Economic Forum’s “Young Global Leader” designation; Rolling Stone’s 2012 “12 Leaders Who Get Things Done”; TIME’s 2009 “100 Most Influential People in The World”; and the Root's 2014 ʺThe Root 100.ʺ He is presently a fellow at the MIT Media Lab.
Matt Haney, DreamCorps Director of Policy coordinates, implements and provides policy and research direction and support for program initiatives. As School Board Member on the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education, Matt has been a national leader on ending the “school to prison pipeline,” including authoring a landmark policy transforming San Francisco’s school discipline system. He is responsible for determining policy, budget, curriculum, educational goals and standards for all pre K-12 public schools in San Francisco. Matt is an Adjunct Faculty Member at the Stanford d.school, using design thinking and human centered design to incubate new ideas in public education and government. Matt has a BA from UC Berkeley, an MA from Stanford University School of Education, a JD from Stanford Law School with a focus on education law, and an LLM in Human Rights from National University of Ireland where he was a Senator George Mitchell Scholar.
Shaka Senghor, DreamCorps Director of Strategy and Innovation, is a writer, mentor and motivational speaker whose story of redemption has inspired a nation. He is founder of the Atonement Project, a recipient of the 2012 Black Male Engagement (BMe) Leadership Award, a 2013 MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow, a Fellow in the inaugural class of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Community Leadership Network, and teaches the Atonement Project at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In March 2014, Shaka shared his love for writing discovered while serving nineteen years in prison on the world-renowned TED stage and in just four months his talk reached more than 1,000,000 views. Shaka’s memoir Writing My Wrongs collection of essays and poems Live in Peace: A Youth Guide to Turning Hurt into Hope (Drop a Gem Publishing, 2013 and 2012) tells about his abusive childhood and his life in the streets and in prison.
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