Just In/Justice 2007

In spring 2006, CUP worked with the senior class of the Academy of Urban Planning to investigate the infrastructure of criminal justice in New York City. Students met with dozens of advocates, elected officials, community-based organizations, and academics to learn about the politics and realities of policing and incarceration. Students used the city as a classroom, studying the Department of Correction’s plans to expand the city jail system, the concept of million-dollar blocks, and the shooting of Sean Bell. Through an extended letter-writing campaign, the class won an audience with Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly to voice their opinions and ideas for improved police-community relations in the wake of the Sean Bell shooting. In addition to learning research and investigation skills, the class learned, in Rosemary Cruz’s words, that they “could express their opinions to someone above us.”
After asking tough questions about urban justice (with a focus on the Sean Bell shooting and the Department of Correction’s plan to expand their jail facilities) students worked with CUP Teaching Artist Daniel Tisdale to produce a public exhibition that shared their ideas about justice with the Bushwick community. Exhibit components included a Sean Bell memorial and crime scene recreation, a giant-sized interactive board game about life and the luck of the draw in Bushwick, and a series of comic strips starring Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, City Councilman Jose Serrano and the Department of Corrections Commissioner Marty Horn.

Participants

Mike McQuillan, AUP Classroom Teacher
Jon Martin, AUP Classroom Teacher
Meredith Philips, AUP coordinator
Monique Darrisaw, AUP Principal
Daniel Tisdale, Teaching Artist
Rosten Woo, Project Coordinator and Educator
Ana Paula Barretto, Volunteer

Resources & Links

Organizations

Academy of Urban Planning	The Academy of Urban Planning (AUP) is a New Visions high school based in Bushwick, Brooklyn. AUP's urban planning theme-based curriculum draws students out of the classroom and into their communities using New York City as a laboratory.
City Councilman Erik Martin Dilan	Erik Martin Dilan represents the people of the 37th Councilmanic District serving the communities of Bushwick, Cypress Hills, East New York, Ocean-Hill, Brownsville, and Wyckoff Heights.
Civilian Complaint Review Board	CCRB is an independent and non-police mayoral agency empowered to investigate and recommend action on complaints against New York City police officers
Community in Unity	Community in Unity is a coalition of over twenty community organizations from the Bronx and around the city advocating for alternatives to the Oak Point jail proposal.
Department of Correction	The City of New York's Department of Correction has jurisdiction over the city's penal institutions. The average daily inmate population of the DOC fluctuates between 13,000 and 18,000.
Green Worker Cooperatives	Green Worker Cooperatives is a South Bronx-based organization dedicated to incubating worker-owned and environmentally friendly cooperatives in the South Bronx.
Justice Mapping Center	The Justice Mapping center uses computer mapping (GIS) to help better understand, evaluate, and communicate criminal justice and other social policy information.
Make the Road by Walking	Make the Road by Walking is a nonprofit that promotes economic justice, equity and opportunity for all New Yorkers through community and electoral organizing, advocacy, leadership development, youth and adult education, and legal and support services.
NYPD	The New York City Police Department is New York's law enforcement agency
The Brennan Center for Justice	The Brennan Center for Justice is a non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on the fundamental issues of democracy and justice
The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services	The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services provides services and supervision for offenders as an alternative to jail or prison.
The Point CDC	The Point Community Development Corporation is a nonprofit dedicated to youth development and the cultural and economic revitalization of the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx.
Tisdale Studio	Tisdale Studio is a visual art studio based in Harlem that produces drawings, photographs, and installations for contemporary galleries, museums and collectors around the world.