High National Incarceration Rate Topic of Summit for 11/16/04 in Detroit

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High jail rate target of summit

Some say the social and economic cost to keep 2 million people in prison is too much.

By Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News

Summit


Rebuilding Lives: Restoration, Reformation and Rehabilitation in the U.S. Criminal Justice System is a one-day educational conference to discuss the high rate of incarceration.

The summit is from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Detroit Opera House.

Participation is by invitation only. For details and to request an invitation, visit www.wcccd.edu or call (313) 496-2704.


No DETROIT -- National experts, both liberal and conservative, will gather Tuesday in Detroit to explore ways to fix a U.S. justice system that relies on imprisoning more and more people.

Politicians may claim tough crime measures get criminals off the street, but the cost -- both social and economic -- of incarcerating a record 2 million people in the United States is staggering, critics say. The price also includes an ever-widening circle of children who grow up to follow the same path.

"The epidemic of incarceration affects not only the prisoner, but the families and children who are left behind," said Curtis Ivery, chancellor of Wayne County Community College District, which is sponsoring the event in conjunction with the city of Detroit, The Detroit News and WDIV Local 4.

Rebuilding Lives: Restoration, Reformation and Rehabilitation in the U.S. Criminal Justice System will feature panel discussions on the responses to urban violence, including the roles of law enforcement and community involvement, education, the economy and the politics of justice reform. The summit is part of Wayne's continuing education and workforce development programs.

Panelists will include ministers, law enforcement leaders, social researchers from Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and the University of Michigan, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and local government officials.

"It is all about what we can do early on. This whole issue is about how the path to incarceration starts at a very early age," Ivery said.

Joshua Bassett, director of the conference and a faculty member at Wayne County Community College, said the summit's mix of conservative and liberal participants makes it unique and more likely to result in action.

Ivery said the idea sprang from another summit two years ago here on education. A result of that event was the creation of a multicultural exchange program, bringing students from 14 Metro Detroit school districts together for sessions on Wayne County Community College's downtown campus.

"It has fostered practical understanding for urban and suburban students about what happens when you say, 'I'm from Detroit.' " Bassett said.


You can reach Doug Guthrie at (313) 222-2359 or dguthrie@detnews.com.


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