January Civic Forum: The High Cost of American Incarceration
Channel: TV Santa Barbara
Date: 2020-01-17

Criminal Justice Reform - Incarceration
Forum Organizer: Peter Haslund


Feb. 15 Forum: The High Cost of American Incarceration: An Expensive Failure


Our system of incarceration has long been criticized for its near exclusive focus on punishment with no serious effort at transforming the behavior of inmates so as to lower the rate of recidivism. We believe that it is time to explore ways of reducing that rate — 70% within the first 3 years after release — which carries with it a huge cost to taxpayers.   

We have explored alternative approaches and have concluded that a comprehensive reform of our system can result in a significant reduction of recidivism with an increase in public safety. 
This program is brought to you by the Center for Global Dialogue, which has spent much of the last three years comparing what we do in this country with what happens in Scandinavia where the recidivism rate is considerably lower.  

We will present our findings to date, and we have engaged a panel of experts to help us by providing feedback on our preliminary recommendations. The goal of this project is to present the final policy recommendations to the State legislature in hopes of affecting California’s practice of incarceration.  

Our panel will include 
Superior Court Judge George Eskin (Ret), 
Kristianne Shell, formerly incarcerated inmate in state prison,
Commander Robert Plastino, County Sheriff’s Office
Maureen Earls, member of CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice). 

January 15, 2020 - 12 noon - Faulkner Gallery, Santa Barbara Central Library, 40 East Anapamu Street.

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