Smart & Safe
NAACP Criminal Justice Initiative
-Strategy Training
March 2010
Criminal Justice a
Civil Rights Issue?
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Criminal Justice is a Civil Rights Issue
Voting
Employment
Education
Police
Abuse
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Incarceration Trends: The Problem
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1 in 31 Americans have served time or is currently
serving time. 1 in 11 African Americans.
Majority of people incarcerated are people of color,
people that were unemployed, have mental health
issues and are in for non-violent offenses.
Women and children are the largest growing prison
population.
600-800 thousand inmates get released into
community each year
1 in 3 African American males born in 2001 run the
risk of serving time in prison or being dead before their
34th birthday.
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Impact on Education
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$70 billion a year on incarcerating people.
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6 times the rate of state spending on higher education.
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K-12 and Higher Education funding declined as 33
states spent a larger proportion of their discretionary
dollars on prisons.
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Public four-year college is $15,213.
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Private four year is $35,636.

Annual cost of incarcerating a person in prison was
approximately $25,000 a year.
As cited by the Justice Policy Institute, Pruning Prisons, 2009.
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.
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Police Misconduct

2005 Dept. of Justice Survey re: Contact with Police
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Of the 43.5 million people who had contact with police, 1.6% had
force or threat of force used against them in their most recent
contact
Of these, 83% characterized the force as excessive
4.4% of African Americans, 2.3% of Hispanics, 1.2% of whites
reported experiencing use of force by law enforcement
African Americans were 1 out of 10 contacts with police, but 1
out of 4 instances where force was used
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Exercise Breakout Session

What is an alternative policy or strategy to incarceration in your
community?

Make a demand statement that clearly states what you are
asking for in regards to Criminal Justice/Smart and Safe?

Who must you hold accountable to get what you want?

How do you build power to accomplish your goal?

How can we be helpful to what you want to do locally or at
state level?
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Different Forms of Organizing
Direct Service
Self Help
Accepts Existing
Power Relations
Education
Advocacy
Direct Action
Challenges
Existing Power
Relations
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Note: Dual Forms of Bias
Individual Bias
Institutional Racism
Acts of Discrimination
Racial Profiling
Specific incidents of police
misconduct
Cyclical Poverty
Inadequate Indigent Defense Services
Unequal Resources in Public Schools
War on Crime/Drugs
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Altering Power Relations
Our Focus: Institutional Bias
• Self Help
• Education
• Advocacy
• Education
Institutional Bias
Individual Bias
• Direct Service
• Advocacy
• Direct Action
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Strategy Chart
Goals
Organizational
Considerations
Constituents,
Allies &
Opponents
Long Term
Haves
Constituents
Intermediate
Short Term
Wants
Internal Problems
Targets
Tactics
Primary
Target
Educational
Secondary
Target
Power
Allies
Opponents
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Goals
Strategy Model
•Long Term Goals
What your are working towards
•Intermediate Goals
Actual win you want
•Short Term Goals
What you need to get to the
intermediate goal
Smart & Safe Example
• Long Term: Drastically reduce,
if not eliminate incidents of police
misconduct
•Intermediate: Pass law to collect
data and require reporting on use
of force/profiling
•Short Term: Lawmaker to
introduce law with data
collection/reporting requirement
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Organizational Constraints
Strategy Model
•Haves
Resources ($, staff, facilities,
member, other capacity)
•Wants
Quantifiable list of what you want
for campaign (2 copiers, more
funds, 25 more members, etc.)
•Internal Problems
Honest assessment of internal
challenges (different views, people
who are missing in action, etc.)
Smart & Safe Example
•Haves: office space, 50 members,
people with legal knowledge within
the unit, NAACP All Alert
Reporting Tool
•Wants: a working computer, a fax
machine, copier, a Legal Redress
Chair, a Criminal Justice
Committee Chair
•Internal Problems: no Legal
Redress Chair, no Criminal Justice
Committee Chair
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Constituents, Allies & Opponents
Strategy Model
•Constituents
Directly impacted by issue
•Allies
Those that support our cause
(donors, other organizations,
etc.)
•Opponents
Present a threat, have something
to lose ($) (maybe certain
lawmakers, or some enforcement
officials)
Smart & Safe Example
•Constituents: members,
communities of color, youth,
parents
•Allies: local ACLU, MALDEF,
LULAC chapter, churches,
ethnic media, campus-based
organizations
•Opponents: fiscally conservative
lawmaker Ron Mullen, police
union representative Bob Smith,
police chief Charlie Clark
(random names for this example)
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Targets
Strategy Model
•Primary
A person who has power to give
you what you want. Think: what
power do we have over them?
•Secondary
A person with power over primary
target
Don’t always have or need this
person
Smart & Safe Example
•Primary: local elected
representative to introduce bill
•Secondary: none for this scenario
(different tactic/strategy needed for
every target)
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Tactics
Strategy Model
MUST be directed at a specific target
•Power
Big plays that will make sense to
members and show power over the
target
•Education
Educating community at large,
including constituents about your
issue
Smart & Safe Example
•Power: march outside of elected
officials offices, well recognized
speakers; put forth model
legislation/list of needed
components for data collection &
reporting law; invite local media
•Education: tabling , town hall
meeting on issue, expert speakers
at local meetings, mailings, email
blasts, writing Op-Ed's
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How Tactics Can Influence Your Target
WIN!!!
Civil Disobedience
Press Event
Lobby
Education Forum
Teach-in
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Strategy Exercise - Breakout Session

Every year for the last 5 years, a joint task force of local law
enforcement, state police and federal officers execute a raid in
the town of Cicero.
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The raid consists of arresting and incarcerating 30-45 African
American young men for drug-related offenses.
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A young unarmed man was killed by law enforcement and after
the investigation, the shooting officer was not assigned fault.
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Each year, the raid takes place in September and officers use
high tech equipment such as helicopters, night gargles, semiautomatic weapons and army gear during the raids.
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You are a member of the Cicero NAACP and would like to stop
next year’s raid.
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BUILD YOUR STRATEGY!!!
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Smart & Safe Criminal Justice Initiative
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Four Campaigns

Advance Effective Law Enforcement
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Elevate the Voices of Crime Survivors
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Eliminate Employment Discrimination of the Formerly
Incarcerated
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Reform Punitive Sentencing and Support Voting Rights
for the Formerly incarcerated
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Effective Law Enforcement Campaign
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Part of a multi-year initiative to improve trust and public
safety. Goals include:
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Improve law enforcement accountability
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Strengthen bonds of trust between law enforcement and
the communities they serve
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Increase public safety in 1200 urban and rural
communities directly represented by NAACP and the
nation as a whole

National and local reforms: use of force standards, racial
profiling, community oriented policing
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Recent Examples

Examples of incidents reported to the NAACP that
highlight the problem:

Rockford, IL

Oakland, CA

Pittsburgh, PA
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Rockford, IL – August 2009

23 year-old Mark Anthony Barmore
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Domestic complaint
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Chased and shot dead in front of day care students at
church
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Unarmed; three shots in the back
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Witnesses report intimidation
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Increase in racial tensions in community
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Lack of trust between community and police
department
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Rockford, IL – Mark Barmore’s Kids
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Oakland, CA – January 2009

22 year-old Oscar Grant
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Took BART at his mother’s behest
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Shot in the head by BART police
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Unarmed; handcuffed on the floor
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Incident captured by cell phone video – “this
generation’s Rodney King”
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Peaceful demonstrations turned violent
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Increased tension between community and
police
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Oakland, CA – Grant Family
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Pittsburgh, PA – January 2010

18 year-old, honors music student, Jordan
Miles
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Approached by undercover officers, asked
about “money and drugs”
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Chased, beaten, hair pulled out, choked
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What officers believed was gun, was Mountain
Dew bottle
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Charged with resisting arrest, aggravated
assault
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Community outrage and outcry in support of
Miles
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Pittsburgh, PA – Jordan Miles
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All Alert – Online Reporting of Incidents
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All Alert Data – Type of Incident
(Feb. 2010)
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Model State Policies
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Repealed almost all of the state’s mandatory minimum
drug statutes
Prisoner Reentry Initiative helped improve chances for
parole
Steps taken to reduce recidivism for technical
violations of parole
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Kick Off: Misplaced Priorities Report
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National Report Roll-out
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Regional Report Roll-outs
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New York
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Philadelphia
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Houston
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Los Angeles
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Indianapolis
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Jackson
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Billboards
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New Media Buzz
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National Billboards
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Regional Billboards Example
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All Alert for Organizers
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Build Capacity for activism 1:
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Identify criminal justice committee chairs for all
units
Conduct Trainings on All Alert reporting tool
Report local trends identified by All Alert data to
NAACP State Conferences
Advance toolkit for local and state action
Quarterly workshops/webinars for state & local
leadership
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Misplaced Priorities
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Build Capacity for activism 2:
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Toolkit for local, university and state action
Quarterly workshops/webinars for state & local
leadership
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State lobby days to elevate misplaced priorities issues
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Mobilize around Federal Legislation: Youth Promise Act
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Organize and elevate issue on College Campuses
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2010-2012 Federal Smart & Safe Opportunities
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Broad-Based Mobilization on:
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Webb’s Justice System Overhaul Bill
National Standards for Use for Force and Use for Force Training
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Community Oriented Policing
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Ending Zero-Tolerance Policies
Build Criminal Justice Capacity within the NAACP
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Criminal Justice Committees
• Track-record of success with building multi-racial alliances to reform law
enforcement and prison system
• Organize local campaigns to hold Mayors and Police Chief accountable
• Mobilize for State and Federal Reforms
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Key Staff
Robert Rooks, MSW
Director of Criminal Justice Programs
rrooks@naacpnet.org
(410) 336-3156
Niaz Kasravi, Ph. D
Sr. Manager, Law Enforcement Accountability
nkasravi@naacpnet.org
(410) 336-2642
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