Making Amends

So, what did it mean for the prosecutors to engage in intensive conversations with prisoners?  What lessons did everyone learn?

Despite the difficult conditions of prison, many people inside find a pathway to self-improvement.  How is that possible?  Are there changes in criminal justice policy that even prosecutors could support that would make transformations inside more likely?

In Oregon and elsewhere, many people convicted by prosecutors of a violent crime are given a long and fixed sentence.  What does it mean to go prison on such a sentence?  What can prisoners teach prosecutors about the experience of doing time?

What is it like to be prosecuted for a violent crime?  On the way toward getting a conviction, do you have any reason to take accountability for your actions?

How do people come to commit violent acts?  What can prosecutors learn by listening to stories of how people ended up in prison?

What do prosecutors do? Why do they pursue prison sentences when they charge people with violent offenses?  What do they think incarceration accomplishes?

Long prison sentences for violent crimes have made the United States  the most punitive nation in history.  And it is prosecutors who secure the convictions that generate those long prison terms.

But what do prosecutors know about what happens to those they convict?  What might happen if a group of prosecutors went inside the walls, and talked to prisoners about the heavy use of incarceration as a response to violence?  What can they learn from each other, and what can we learn from listening in?

How can convicted criminals fully appreciate the impact of their actions?  If that might involve communication with their victims, how can that occur?  Can American prisons embrace the principles of restorative justice, and help create communities where remorse can be expressed and genuine change facilitated?

To make amends requires accepting responsibility for the harm you’ve caused.  But in an adversarial legal process, how easy is it to take accountability for criminal wrongs, especially in the age of mass incarceration?    

What debts do we owe after committing a crime?  How does one repair the moral fabric after a serious wrong?  The men describe the importance of repentance to them, and how they try to make that real in their everyday actions.