On the front lines for restorative justice
15th April 2019 · 0 Comments
While Trump is trying to blow up legal norms, sidestep justice, and convert the Oval Office into a Hitler Bunker, the silence on the battlefront of the ongoing war for reparative justice is deafening.
Like stealth bombers, legal eagles, many of them women, are soaring through the courts and demanding that judges, appointed by Trump or not, uphold the rule of law.
With Trump’s handpicked minions in positions of power to mete out justice or, in the case of the newly installed U.S. Attorney General William Barr, to cover-up his suspected criminal actions: Trump’s potential obstruction of justice, possible tax evasion, alleged collusion with Russians, the not Muslim-Muslim Ban, shutting down the southern border, jailing asylum seekers, putting children in cages; and more than 9,000 documented lies; the silent work of the freedom fighters and continuing battle for civil rights and reparative justice is a welcomed respite of quiet grace, strength and hope.
So too are the inaudible booms of their legal salvos. As several of the Democrats running for President begin to drop the “R” word (reparations), civil rights attorneys have been working for a few centuries to win a major tenet of the Reparations Movement in the U.S.; “restorative justice.”
Restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by crime and conflict. It places decisions in the hands of those who have been most affected by a wrongdoing and gives equal concern to the victim, the offender, and the surrounding community. Restorative responses are meant to repair harm, heal broken relationships, and address the underlying reasons for the offense. It emphasizes individual and collective accountability.
One of the institutions firing missives across the arc of justice and waging a sustained struggle for restorative justice is the Louis A. Berry Civil Rights and Justice Institute at Southern University Law Center (SULC) in Baton Rouge.
According to its April 2019 newsletter, the mission of the Louis A. Berry Institute for Civil Rights and Justice is the advancement of civil and human rights and social and restorative justice, especially in Louisiana and the South.
Professor Angela A. Allen-Bell isn’t keeping her powder dry. She is in the vanguard, on the front lines fighting for restorative justice.
As the director of the Louis A. Berry Civil Rights and Justice Institute and the B.K. Agnihotri Endowed Professor at Southern University Law Center, Professor Allen-Bell made national and international headlines recently for her research on unanimous juries and her advocacy to have the Louisiana Constitution amended.
In 1803, when Louisiana became a territory, unanimous verdicts were required by the U.S. Constitution. In the late 19th century, Louisiana was faced with a new constitutional requirement, after the passage of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, that forced the state to include Black people in juries.
As part of the infamous Constitutional Convention in 1898 meant to “perpetuate the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race in Louisiana,” white lawmakers, many former members of the confederacy, enacted laws to disenfranchise Louisiana’s African Americans. One of them allowed split juries for felony trials, so the few Black jurors could be easily overruled by a white majority and African Americans could be summarily jailed with 10-2 jury decisions.
“The change from unanimity was to: (1) obtain quick convictions that would funnel people into Louisiana’s newly-created convict leasing system (as a replacement for free slave labor); and, (2) ensure African American jurors would not block convictions of other African Americans,” according to the Institute’s newsletter.
Professor Bell ‘s restorative justice work is informed by her belief that “Racism, oppression and discrimination are sustained not only by humans, but also by laws, policies and systems. Efforts to address one, but not all will produce outcomes instead of changes. Emancipation was not just about physical freedom. The Civil Rights Movement was not just about physical presence. The struggle has always been about social, legal and political equality.”
Bell’s research was used to develop support for a Constitutional Amendment ballot measure. She joined Marjorie Esman, then director of the ACLU of Louisiana, to host the first organized public forum to discuss the need for a remedy and to discuss the potential for that remedy being new legislation.
State Representatives Edmond Jordan and J.P. Morrell, both attorneys, joined the fight by filing bills and led the effort to bring this change in law to the voters. Amendment 2 passed on November 6, 2018, ending the use of non-unanimous juries. Jordan is an SULC graduate.
On March 7, 2019, Professor Allen-Bell joined her colleagues in that effort at Governor John Bel Edwards Mansion, where they were honored for their diligence in overturning one of Louisiana’s many slave-era laws.
Professor Allen-Bell teaches Legal Writing & Analysis I, Legal Writing & Analysis II, Legal Research, Professional Responsibility, Constitutional Law I & Law & Minorities.
Her interest in social justice, restorative justice, criminal justice & procedure, civil eights & human rights was on full display during a recent two-day conference, “When the Students Became the Teachers: Roots Camp 2019 Civil Rights & Justice Panels.” Her students’ research found several startling cases of legal injustices that still cry out for restorative justice.
A native of New Orleans, Louisiana and a 1998 graduate of the Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, prior to entering law school Allen-Bell served as a program director for the National Council of Negro Women of Greater New Orleans. After law school, she spent ten years working at an appellate court before becoming a law professor.
She has worked on several historic campaigns, such as the Angola 3 case, the case of Soledad Brother John Clutchette and Professor Allen-Bell was last month selected as one of the Top Criminal Justice Researchers in the United States and honored in Washington, D.C.
An expert in legal analysis, Allen-Bell has been interviewed by Sky News (United Kingdom), La Presse (France), Le Nouvel Observateur (France), MSNBC (News Nation with Tamron Hall), NBC Nightly News, and National Public Radio (All Things Considered). One of the intriguing scholarly articles she has written is “The Birth of a Crime: Driving While Black.”
BOOM! A Luta Continua (The Struggle Continues)….
This article originally published in the April 15, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
