This week, we have been reflecting on the importance of building and sustaining relationships with those in prison. We know that prisons sever connections between families, friends, communities and our loved ones. We know that imprisonment leads to isolation and despair, often for those already most marginalised within our society. We know that we are encouraged to forget about those who suffer behind prisons walls. For us, refusing to do this is an important part of building a world which centres love, restoration and healing. By prioritising connection, we are resisting - and taking one step closer to the compassionate world we want to see.
Strength and love,
The 4Front Project Team
Highlights
4FRONT hold Jahiem's Memorial Planning Circle
This week, as we approach the two year anniversary of Jahiem's transition, we held a special planning circle to ensure that those who love and miss him could collectively contribute to how we will all celebrate his life on this important day. For communities impacted by bereavement and grief, the anniversaries of our loss are significant days in our individual and collective journeys. We know how important it is for our collective healing, to both honour and lift up the memory of those we have lost. Memorials provide an integral space for all those who continue to love and miss our fallen, to come together as a community and support one another. This planning circle was an important way to allow our 4Front family - Jahiem's family, friends and community - to establish what our individual and collective needs are for this time. 4Front remains committed to building Jahiem's legacy. Through Jaheim's Justice Centre, we continue to strive for peace, healing, learning and growth for our youth and community.
Newsbites
The dangers of incentivising children to plead guilty
By Youth Justice Legal Centre:
In this current system, ‘children – whom the law recognizes as being too immature to vote, to drink alcohol, or to gamble – are making complex decisions to incriminate themselves, which may influence the rest of their lives.’ Recent psychological research supports the idea that children are more susceptible to pleading guilty when they are innocent since they are more sensitive to the pressures of being in court. For example, research suggests that children may plead guilty on the basis of relatively small sentence reductions when this does not adequately reflect what they desire. As children are more vulnerable due to their immaturity and developmental vulnerabilities, this must be accounted for within the current justice system. Read more... [via Youth Justice Legal Centre]
Spotlights
Migrants in Culture
We're spotlighting Migrants In Culture, a network organising for a UK cultural sector accountable to migrants, people of colour and all impacted by the Hostile Environment. Migrants In Culture have created an easily digestible, comprehensive illustration explaining the Government's anti-refugee ‘Nationality and Borders’ Bill and what it will mean if this becomes law. The illustrations provides a quick and easy way to understand the Bill. You can download and share them here.