About Us

Wed, 2012-02-15 00:00 +0000 — CCJR-NH Staff

Our mission. Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform works for a just, humane, and restorative judicial and correctional system by means of research, public education, legislative advocacy, coalition building, community organizing, and litigation. We support rational, cost-effective programs and policies that reduce crime, lower recidivism, and make our society safer.

Our vision. CCJR seeks a system of justice that protects the community while promoting the rehabilitation of offenders and the well-being of inmate families.

Our goals

  • Build, empower, and mobilize an active statewide coalition.
  • Debunk common myths and stereotypes about prison and offenders.
  • Reform the criminal justice process to make it more restorative and less adversarial.
  • Promote alternatives to incarceration which are less costly and more effective than prison, such as fines, counseling, community service, and restitution.
  • Advocate for programs that maintain relationships between inmates and their loves ones.
  • Work to reintegrate offenders back into their families and communities.
  • Address addiction as a healthcare issue, not as a criminal offense, and redirect resources to prevention and treatment.
  • Oppose mandatory minimum sentences and dangerous overcrowding in our jails and prisons.
  • Serve as a networking resource for prisoners and their families.
 
“The Granite State has long needed a voice like CCJR to challenge the myths behind decades of draconian state policies on crime.” — Chris Dornin, a former correctional counselor, retired State House reporter, and the founder of Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform.
 
 

Help make a difference.
Become a member of CCJR-NH.
Click here to join.

All donations are tax deductible.

 
       “What we can’t do alone, we can do together.”

Cancer Treatment

Thu, 2012-05-17 02:46 +0000 — Phil Horner

Every couple of days I would pass Mark in the hallway of the Hancock Building where we both lived at the New Hampshire State Prison. He was a quiet, nervous appearing, 54-year-old man with a salt-and-pepper mustache. I sometimes stood next to him in the noon medication line. His hands shook as he took his anti-depressant. Just a year prior Mark was on his way out of prison. After doing 5 1/2 years, he got approved for reduced custody and transferred to the Minimum Security Unit in preparation for parole. He never made it to the streets.

Sex Panic and the Punitive State

Sun, 2012-04-08 00:00 +0000 — Phil Horner

Book Review by Phil Horner 

Roger Lancaster’s book, Sex Panic and the Punitive State (University of California Press, 2011) is part scholarly treatise, part impassioned polemic on the dysfunctional relationship between sexuality, fear and punishment in modern America.

Committee Votes to Axe Sex Offender Bill

Fri, 2012-04-06 16:36 +0000 — Chris Dornin

by Chris Dornin, founder, CCJR

The House Criminal Justice Committee voted 15-0 on April 3 to defeat a piece of legislation designed to calm down the hysteria over sex offenders and help New Hampshire discover the best  practices in dealing with them. SB 277 will appear on the consent calendar for the House session next week, which means it has little chance of passage.

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