Letter from the Director Dear friends, This Annual Report goes to press at a challenging time for those of us who care about human rights. Personally, I’m still struggling to come to terms with the rising signs of intolerance in this country and around the world, and the human rights implications of some policies promoted

In recent years, scholars and social movements have brought the issue of mass incarceration into public consciousness in the United States. Many now know that the U.S. has the world’s largest prison population, or have heard alarming figures, like an incarceration rate for Black men that is 6 times that for white men. At the

Professor Katherine Beckett, UWCHR Steering Committee member and faculty in the Departments of Sociology and Law, Societies, and Justice, has published a piece in The American Prospect, titled “Violence, Mass Incarceration, and the Myth of Monstrosity.” The article draws on work related to the Rethinking Punishment initiative, led by Prof. Beckett and Prof. Steve Herbert. Prof. Beckett

By Pamela Schwartz It’s not often that the memories of a class endure long after the quarter has ended. However, the memories of our mixed enrollment class persist, leaving me unsettled, as if there’s unfinished business. Consequently, as I reflect back to winter quarter 2015 and my time studying within the formidable walls and intimidating

CHR & LSJ Launch New Project Rethinking Punishment: Human Rights in an Age of Mass Incarceration The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, a reality that often escapes serious, widespread consideration. This new project works to enhance public understanding of the fiscal, social and moral costs of our unprecedented imprisonment boom.

By Pamela Schwartz Week seven and we’ve really settled in. Names and faces are familiar, as are the smiles and greetings we share with our University Beyond Bars classmates. The classroom is very welcoming, permitting us to practically ignore the intimidating walls and barbed wire that surround us. Our space, a non-descript classroom inside the

Jeff Coats was 14 years old when he kidnapped David Grenier and stole his car in Tacoma, Washington. The crime took place against a backdrop of moral panic: two criminologists forecast a wave of juvenile “superpredators” who would create a “teenage bloodbath” across America. 20 years later, Jeff and David reflect on the crime and

By Pamela Schwartz Monroe, Washington, home to the Reptile Zoo and the Evergreen State Fair. A quiet and unassuming town only 40 minutes northeast of Seattle, Monroe is also home to the Monroe Correctional Complex, a five-unit reformatory housing maximum, medium and minimum level prisoners. For the next 10 weeks, I along with 13 of

(An excerpt from our 2013-2014 Annual Report) By Daniel Snyder Throughout the winter quarter of 2013-14, I had the unique opportunity to work alongside some of the most hardworking classmates I have ever had: inmates at the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe, Washington. Prior to this class, friends and family frequently asked ‘‘why would you