CFEJ is a loosely-knit organization of people, from all walks of life and political persuasions, who want changes made in the way our criminal justice system deals with the problems of crime and prison overcrowding. We are working toward the implimentation of an alternative system which would result in the criminals being afraid, instead of the citizens. We believe that issues related to crime control should target ONLY those people who have had the benefit of due process and been determined to be guilty, rather than the population as a whole. Our goal is to transition to a system where these objectives are complimentary, rather than mutually exclusive. The things you do need not be costly or even time consuming.
Prisons are costly to build and maintain.
At the same time, they are not environments which are conducive to rehabilitating the offender. They are a society, in and of themselves, with their own sub-culture. Many of the value systems are antithetical to a successful reintegration into our society. Current alternatives to incarceration do little to motivate the offender to change his or her activities. No one changes unless they have a strong personal motivation to do so.