“Physicians advocating to eliminate the damaging health consequences that can result from negative interactions with the criminal justice system”
Thank you for your interest! We are raising money to create a professional, permanent internet home for our new organization: Physicians for Criminal Justice Reform. These funds will also help us to establish PfCJR as a 501c3 non-profit organization. Whatever you can give would be greatly appreciated!
ABOUT US
Physicians for Criminal Justice Reform (PfCJR) was founded by a group of physicians who were struck by the myriad of ways that negative encounters with the criminal justice system lead to detrimental health consequences. We firmly believe that changing the interaction between the criminal justice system and individuals of targeted populations will ultimately lead to improved health of targeted communities. As such, our members have made the commitment to be leaders of criminal justice reform by using our medical expertise to:
Increase awareness and knowledge of the bidirectional relationship between health and the criminal justice system
Serve as a fund of knowledge, education and training for local, state and national health and justice systems
Lobby for criminal justice reform surrounding our core issues
CORE ISSUES
Physicians for Criminal Justice Reform seeks to support the creation of a humane, egalitarian justice system by advocating for the following reforms.
Decriminalization of mental health and addictive disorders
Across the nation, individuals with severe mental illness are three times more likely to be in a jail or prison than in a mental health facility and 40 percent of individuals with a severe mental illness will have spent some time in their lives in either jail, prison, or community corrections.
It has been shown that about 20 percent of prison inmates have a serious mental illness, 30 to 60 percent have substance abuse problems and, when including broad-based mental illnesses, the percentages increase significantly.
An estimated 50 percent of males and 75 percent of female inmates in state prisons, and 75 percent of females and 63 percent of male inmates in jails, will experience a mental health problem requiring mental health services in any given year.
Despite 45 million drug related arrests in the U.S., rates of addiction remain unchanged and overdose deaths are at an all-time high.
Reform of the juvenile justice system to identify and divert at risk adolescents.
On any given night in America, 10,000 children are held in adult jails and prisons.
As many as 70 percent of youth in the juvenile justice system have a diagnosable mental health disorder.
Youth housed in adult jails are 36 times more likely to commit suicide than are youth housed in juvenile detention facilities.
According to research by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, youth under the age of 18 represented 21 percent of all substantiated victims of inmate-on-inmate sexual violence in jails in 2005, and 13 percent in 2006 – surprisingly high since only one percent of jail inmates are juveniles.
Provision of adequate access to physical and psychiatric health care for current inmates.
Medical experts say inmates typically experience the effects of age sooner than do people outside prison because of issues such as substance use disorders, inadequate preventive and primary care before incarceration, and stress linked to the isolation and sometimes-violent environment of prison.
Prison inmates have a higher incidence of chronic and infectious diseases, such as AIDS and hepatitis C, and mental illness than that of the general population.
The United States continues to have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, with 5 percent of the world population, but nearly 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.
By ending mass incarceration, correctional physician resources will be better matched to demand and fewer individuals with be exposed to the stressors of incarceration that lead to higher rates of chronic illness
About 66% of prisoners and 40% of jail inmates with a chronic condition at the time of interview reported taking prescription medication.
STRATEGIES
Physicians for Criminal Justice Reform seeks to support the creation of a humane, egalitarian justice system by using the following strategies.
Research Promotion
PfCJR will increase awareness of the bidirectional relationship between health and the criminal justice system for targeted populations by centralizing health-related criminal justice data from various private, public, governmental and non-governmental organizations.
PfCJR will serve as a fund of knowledge, education and training for local, state and national health and justice systems by providing white papers, webinars, keynote speakers, panelists and consulting services to individuals and organizations who have the capacity to drive criminal justice reform.
Education and Awareness
PfCJR will maintain a social media and internet presence to increase awareness and knowledge of the bidirectional relationship between health and the criminal justice system using our own original content and content from key partners.
PfCJR will circulate petitions to our members and issue press releases to major news outlets to familiarize the public with our core issues.
PfCJR member physicians will be made available to media outlets to discuss the medical impact of the criminal justice system on targeted communities when key events are being discussed in the media.
Political Advocacy
PfCJR will lobby for criminal justice reform surrounding our core issues by partnering with existing lobbying organizations to ensure the health-related consequences of our current criminal justice system remains a primary motivator for reform.
PfCJR will create opportunities for collaborative problem-solving by providing current data directly to local, state and federal legislators.
Partnering with Like-Minded Organizations