Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

Zulkiflee Sebli

KUCHING (June 3): Many teachers prefer national examinations to school-based assessment, said Sarawak Bumiputera Teachers Union (KGBS) president Zulkiflee Sebli.

According to him, students are more focused when there are examinations compared to school-based assessment because they place more importance on examinations.

In addition, school-based assessment will add on to the work burden of the teachers, he said today when commenting on the abolition of the Form 3 Assessment (PT3) starting this year.

Yesterday Senior Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Radzi Mohd Jidin said the Education Ministry, in abolishing the PT3, will introduce more school- and class-based evaluation to replace the formal testing, where students between Primary 4 and Form 3 would be assessed on a yearly basis.

Zulkiflee said other than an increase in workload, there is no other issue for teachers as they have already been exposed to classroom assessment (PBD) prior to the abolition of PT3.

State Education Department (JPN) and District Education Office (PPD) always request reports and data from the school. Teachers have deadlines to meet to complete PBD reports despite their daily busy schedule, he said.

Zulkiflee added there is no problem in completing the Form 3 syllabus within the stipulated timeframe as teachers are very committed to their work.

Teachers can use various methods to complete the syllabus. There may even be a small number of teachers who have to use time outside of the official learning and facilitating process (PdPc) to complete the syllabus but we are confident they can and are ready to do so, he said.

Zulkiflee added many primary school teachers hope that the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) would be re-established so that pupils will be more focused on their learning.

With UPSR, pupils will have a target when they attend school. In the past, the first thing they thought of when entering Primary 6 was UPSR and getting good results to continue further.

UPSR facilitated the placement of students into secondary schools, he said.

The UPSR was abolished last year.

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Union: Teachers prefer national examinations to school-based assessment - The Borneo Post

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Private colleges in California want more power to rein in trespassing on their campuses, particularly when people repeatedly enter to harass students.

Willful trespassing on the campuses of Californias K-12 schools and public universities is considered a misdemeanor, and can result in jail time. But private colleges can only hand out warning letters.

The issue is at the center of a bill that is one chamber away from reaching Gov. Gavin Newsoms desk. Private colleges say that the current policy hampers their ability to protect students but some students worry that the proposed changes could make campuses feel cut off from surrounding neighborhoods and lead to racial profiling.

The no-trespassing letters are ineffective because there isnt a clear consequence for violating them, say the bills supporters, which include policing associations and the 86-member Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities.

During the pandemic, the association has heard instances of people entering campuses to make racist comments toward Asian American and Pacific Islander students. The association has also heard of people coming on campuses to sexually harass female students, said Alex Graves, the associations vice president for government relations.

Still, the bill highlights a complicated dynamic.

Many private college campuses in California are open spaces, including the Claremont Colleges and Santa Clara University, which support the bill. Community members pass through often to walk their dogs or relax on the manicured lawns.

The open nature of campuses makes reining in trespassing a very difficult line to walk, said Jessica Ramey Stender, policy director and deputy legal director of Equal Rights Advocates, a gender-justice nonprofit.

I think it shows the difficult position that universities are in, in trying to ensure that they keep their students safe, she said.

Heres what you should know about Senate Bill 748.

The bill would rework a section of the states criminal code that right now only applies to public colleges or universities and public and private K-12 schools.

For those schools, the law says that its a misdemeanor for a person to willfully and knowingly enter a campus after having been banned. A person can be barred for disrupting a campus or facilitys orderly operation, according to the law.

John Ojeisekhoba, president-elect of campus-policing association

The bill would expand the provision to include private colleges and universities. Punishment for a violation is either a fine of no more than $500 or imprisonment in county jail for no longer than six months, or both.

Authored by Sen. Anthony Portantino, a San Fernando Valley Democrat, the bill passed the state Senate 34-0 in January and is scheduled to be heard by the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Wednesday.

Lets use the University of San Diego as an example.

The university supports the bill. And, it has the kind of idyllic campus that the general public regularly visits: 180 acres overlooking San Diego, Mission Bay, and the Pacific Ocean.

Its fairly common for the universitys police force to be summoned to disturbances involving people who have entered campus, said James Miyashiro, assistant vice president of safety.

A recent example involved a homeless man. He had barricaded himself in a campus bathroom, wouldnt come out, and threatened to return again after police told him to leave, said Miyashiro, who watched footage from an officers body camera.

Altercations with students also occur. People come to campus to play sports and get in fights with students who have the space reserved. Or, people will make comments that offend students, who then report them to the police, Miyashiro said.

When campus police get such a report, they will ask the person to leave campus. If they continue to come back, officers will give them a letter barring them from campus.

But that doesnt have a lot of teeth behind it, Miyashiro said. And, city police are reluctant to respond to trespassing issues on campus, particularly during hours when the buildings are open, he said.

Miyashiro contrasted the dynamic with his experience at two public universities where he previously worked: the University of California, Los Angeles and Riverside Community College District. There, campus police could tell a person causing a disturbance that if they returned within seven days, they could be arrested.

Several city police associations back the bill, including the Riverside Sheriffs Association and the Santa Ana Police Officers Association.

Equal Rights Advocates also decided to support the measure, Stender said, based on what it has heard from students who are victims of sexual assault or harassment. Sometimes, the attacker will return to campus to continue harassing or even assault them again, she said.

The consequence of a misdemeanor charge brings clarity, said John Ojeisekhoba, the president-elect of a campus-policing association that supports the bill.

It will give an officer a significant level of deterrence. That will be the difference. Right now, theres just no such thing, he said.

Several students said they are concerned about this outcome.

Alessia Milstein, who graduated this spring from Pitzer College, said there should be other options for how people get help instead of defaulting to calling the police. Milstein was involved in the Claremont Colleges Prison Abolition Collective, a club that educates students about prison and police abolition.

Alessia Milstein graduated this spring from Pitzer College, in Claremont. She was involved in abolition activism on campus. May 25, 2022.

(Raquel Natalicchio

/

CalMatters)

Its also important to remember that everyone is subject to having racial biases and relying on police to decide who belongs on campus is allowing those to run freely, she said.

I just feel like its kind of the epitome, again, of why police dont work, Milstein said. Youre trying to solve every conflict with a catchall that is rooted in colonialism and white supremacy.

There are more negatives than positives with the bill, said Tess Gibbs, a rising senior at Scripps College, who is also part of the collective.

Specifically, Gibbs said she worries the bill could make campus into a sort of fortress, cut off from the surrounding community.

I just question how much this would actually significantly increase safety of students, which seems to be its intention, Gibbs said.

A movement to reduce police presence on California campuses has grown over the last several years, following a nationwide reckoning over the scope of police power.

At the University of California and California State University, some students have called for abolishing or increasing oversight of campus police departments, particularly because of concerns over aggressive policing of protests and racial profiling.

And, racism regularly leads to people of color being deemed suspicious. One such incident that garnered national attention: In 2018, a white student at Yale University called campus police after seeing a black student asleep in the dorm common room. Several police officers responded to the incident.

We have to make sure its applied in a way that makes sense, Portantino said of the bill.

When asked via email about concerns that the bill could lead to racial profiling or harassment of homeless people, he said that the measure isnt meant to be used for anything other than fostering prudent student and campus safety.

Several campus safety officials interviewed said they intended to use the bills power just as needed, rather than overdo it. Of course, thats easier said than done.

Ojeisekhoba, of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, acknowledged that mistakes can happen. Still, he said he has seen a shift in how campus police respond to reports of suspicious behavior. As an example, he pointed to the private university where he is chief of police, Biola University in La Mirada.

Instead of immediately sending an officer to the scene after getting a call about suspicious behavior, dispatchers are trained to ask more questions in the hopes of figuring out if there is actually an issue. The approach is meant to reduce potential mistakes or the appearance of racial profiling, he said.

Tess Gibbs, a Scripps College student

Stan Skipworth, associate vice president of campus safety at the Claremont Colleges, also said in an email that jail time isnt necessary in all instances of trespassing just the most egregious cases.

Instead of relying on police, students should learn to count on community members when problems arise, said Alaia Zaki, a rising senior at the University of San Francisco. Zaki is part of the universitys chapter of Alliance for Change, an organization that helps people transition from prison and re-enter communities.

Zaki highlighted pod-mapping as potential inspiration. The approach has been championed by the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective, an Oakland-based group.

Pods are meant to be a way to deal with small harms by relying on a group of trusted friends or neighbors. For example, instead of calling the police, a person could reach out to their pod.

To have a relationship founded on community would be kind of a game-changer because you would have people that you know, and hopefully respect and trust, coming to de-escalate your situations, Zaki said.

Lingappa is a fellow with theCalMatters College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. This story and other higher education coverage are supported by the College Futures Foundation.

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Private Colleges Want More Power To Police Trespassers. Here's What You Need To Know - LAist

My first book will be published on 3June. Its titledThe Case Against the Sexual Revolutionand it pretty much does what it says on the tin. My argument is that the sexual revolution that began in the 1960s has mostly not been of benefit to women.

As I write this, the first reviews are being published, as well as several extracts, and the word "provocative" is coming up a lot, as I thought it probably would.The Sunday Timesis running a very alarming poll on its website asking readers: "Do you agree with Louise Perrys opinions?" I gulped when I first saw this, but have since been pleasantly surprised to see that about three quarters of respondents have so far answered "yes", suggesting that, if I am a provocateur, then I am not an especially outrageous one.

The level of interest that the book has attracted pre-publication has startled me, although there have been rumblings in the media for a while suggesting an imminent backlash against the excesses of the sexual revolution. My friend Katherine Dee an American writer and expert in the history of internet culture has for several years been predicting a swing back against the dominance of sex positive feminism in prominent spaces, and in recent months has found herself vindicated, with theGuardianannouncingthat Gen Z was turning its back on sex-positive feminism and theNew York Timessaying that the ideology wasfalling out of fashion.

The plea of the mournful revolutionary, when faced with the terrible consequences of his utopianism, has always been that real communism has never been tried. This, too, is increasingly the go-to explanation for sexual revolutionaries who are dismayed at where we find ourselves as a culture. If the consequences for women of sexual liberation have beenmoreviolence,moreabuse andmoreunhappiness as I argue is true then their solution has to beyetmoreliberation, if the revolution is going to be waged right to its bloody end.

On paper, there seems to be nothing wrong with a school of feminism that is designed to maximise individual freedom and challenge the shame and repression associated with traditional sexual cultures. In practice, however, pressing the "more liberation" button over and over again is never going to solve the problems that feminists are concerned with.

As the socialist historian RH Tawney wrote almost a century ago, freedom for the pike is death for the minnows. Tawney was writing about the rich and the poor, but his observation applies just as well to sexual politics. Of course the factory owner supports free marketisation, and of course his wage slave disagrees the pike and the minnow have different economic interests. This is also true in the sexual marketplace, which has been rapidly deregulated over the last sixty years.

The playing field is not a level one because the sexually dimorphic nature of our species has produced certain important asymmetries between men and women. Firstly, there is a substantial difference in strength and size, which means that almost all men can kill almost all women with their bare hands, but not vice versa. And then there is the fact that only women can get pregnant, and it is therefore women who bear (literally) the potential consequences of any heterosexual encounter.

Modern contraception partially flattens this asymmetry, but unreliably. And even if the physical differences between men and women can be disguised by technology, we still cannot eradicate the psychological differences that persist despite all our best efforts.

And we shouldnt try to eradicate them. I dont accept the idea that having sex like a man is an obvious route by which women can live happier and healthier lives. Nor do I think that encouraging women to behave more like men in every other area of life is necessarily to womens benefit.

Kathleen Stock (who wrote the foreword to my book), haswrittencritically of the dream of gender abolition and its sometimes troubling consequences: "In a real-life approximation of an attempt at gender abolition that is, during Maos Cultural Revolution there were still sex-associated norms for women. These norms dictated that women should behave more like men. As the slogan went: 'Times have changed. Whatever men comrades can do, women comrades can do too.' ... In practice this norm meant that women under Mao faced the double burden of heavy agricultural work duties in addition to domestic and child-rearing ones."

One consequence of this historical attempt at gender abolition was that pregnant and postpartum women were given the same work tasks and hours as their comrades, resulting in many cases of miscarriage and haemorrhaging. Men and women are not the same, and it is usually women who suffer when we pretend otherwise.

Sex-positive feminism is just one instantiation of a larger liberal movement intent on maximising individual freedom which is a fine project, up to a point. But the push for ever greater freedom is now butting up against the limits of our biology, and thus a feminist movement that was once concerned only with securing liberty for women finds itself in a futile war with nature.

It doesnt need to be this way. I think there is an alternative school of feminism brewing, one that has emerged out of the failed experiment of sexual liberation, and which takes seriously the hard limits imposed by sexual difference. Interviewers keep asking me what this movement is called, and I dont know what to tell them. "Post-liberal feminism", perhaps? Or "reactionary feminism", as my friend Mary Harrington (jokingly) calls it? Im not sure. What I do know is that it cant come too soon.

This piece appears in the forthcoming issue of the New Statesman magazine,subscribe here.

[See also: South Korea's new president weaponises anti-feminism to win election]

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Louise Perry: feminists have fallen for the illusion of limitless liberty - The New Statesman

The state plans to begin issuing $850 checks to eligible taxpayers this week and expects to have the vast majority mailed by the end of the month if state officials can find enough envelopes.

The supplemental budget proposed by Gov. Janet Mills and approved by lawmakers in April allocated about $730 million for the checks as a way to use one-time surplus funds to help taxpayers cope with inflation.

The Legislatures Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee effectively cleared the way Tuesday for the state to begin issuing the checks by granting permission to process some of the funds ahead of schedule. The budget called for distributing roughly half this month and the rest beginning in July, Jenny Boyden, the associate commissioner of the Department of Administrative Financial Affairs, said during an appearance before the budget-writing committee on Tuesday.

But Boyden said Maine Revenue Services expects to issue about 200,000 checks a week, beginning later this week, and asked for a waiver to provide the refunds as quickly as possible.

We are requesting the additional allotment to ensure the (Department of Revenue Services) is able to process all payments as soon as administratively feasible, Boyden said. Assuming there are no glitches, we could send out a significant portion of checks in June.

One of the glitches may be a shortage of stationery. Global supply chain problems are delaying deliveries of paper products, including the envelopes needed to deliver the checks.

One thing that may slow down processing is envelopes, she said.

Boyden said the department has about 250,000 envelopes on hand. It ordered 800,000 more in February, she said, but delivery is expected to be delayed until late June or early July. That means the state could run out of envelopes after the second week of issuing checks.

Boyden said they are looking to use envelopes from the state treasurers office if the others do not arrive on time.

Concerns about the rising cost of food and gas are expected to be a central issue in this falls campaign cycle, with state Republican leaders looking to blame Gov. Janet Mills and state Democrats even though inflation is a national and global problem.

In response to concerns about rising costs, Mills proposed sending more than half of the states $1.2 billion projected budget surplus to eligible taxpayers. Lawmakers approved providing relief to taxpayers in the form of $850 checks after Republicans successfully fought to include about 58,000 households with higher incomes.

While legislative Republicans embraced the idea, former Gov. Paul LePage, who is challenging Mills this fall, called it a gimmick. Instead, LePage called for a reduction in and ultimately the abolition of state income taxes, which account for about 40 percent of the state budget. Budget forecasters have said future revenue projections are volatile, and LePage has not detailed how he would meet possible revenue shortfalls in future budgets. His past efforts to abolish the income tax were rejected by lawmakers from both parties.

The one-time relief checks approved by the Legislature will be mailed to about 858,000 Mainers. The Mills administration rejected the idea of using direct deposits to issue the checks, in part to avoid errors associated with people changing bank accounts or having their taxes filed by a professional who provided a different bank account. The state has the mailing address of all taxpayers but doesnt have bank account numbers for a large number of them.

To be eligible, individuals must file a Maine individual tax return as a full-time resident by Oct. 31, 2022, not be claimed as a dependent on anothers tax return and have a federal adjusted gross income of less than $100,000 as individuals (or if married and filing separately), less than $150,000 as head of household or less than $200,000 for couples filing jointly.

Mills originally proposed income limits of $75,000 for an individual and $150,000 for couples filing jointly.

TAX RETURN REQUIRED

Boyden told lawmakers Tuesday that the state and community partners will work to make sure people who dont usually file tax returns file a return by October in order to receive a payment.

A state official said its not known how many eligible people dont file tax returns and would need to do so to receive a check.

We expect that elderly and disabled Mainers living on fixed incomes (Social Security, SSDI, military pension, military disability, etc.) account for the majority of non-filers, said Anya Trundy, chief of legislative and strategic operations at the Department of Administrative and Financial Services. More broadly speaking, non-filers are low-income Mainers (including elderly and disabled) who didnt earn enough income in 2021 to incur a tax liability and therefore arent required to file a return.

She said the nonprofit Maine Equal Justice is conducting outreach to low-income residents throughout the summer, while the AARP is holding a series of drop-in clinics for retirees and others on fixed incomes. Several state agencies, including the departments of health and human services, education and labor, and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, also are getting the word out. And she said the state is working with the constituent services offices of the House and Senate to ensure that accurate information about refunds is included in mailings.

Thats two touches per address, Boyden said.

The status of refund checks can be checked online at portal.maine.gov/refundstatus/payment

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State to begin issuing $850 checks this week, but envelopes in short supply - Press Herald

(Alyssa Shao | Daily Trojan)

In recent years, cops have been criticized more than they ever have been in America. As Black Lives Matter protests were held all over the country, systemic police brutality was brought to the forefront of the conversation. Movements to abolish the police have seen more support than ever.

But in the midst of all this, it is often asked where the Department of Public Safety fits in. Do they even count as police? Should they be abolished? The answer to both of these questions is yes.

While they may not appear to be, public safety officers, one of the two types of DPS officers, have trained at the Los Angeles Police Academy and share the same powers of arrest as LAPD officers. While possessing these powers, they do not have to comply with legislation that LAPD has to, such as the Racial and Identity Profiling Act.

But the LAPD ties dont stop there. DPS is operated through a memorandum of understanding they have with LAPD. DPS has even had several controversies hiring those fired from LAPD, employing former officers who were fired for deeds like racial harassment (current USC lieutenant Peter Foster), false statements (current USC sergeant Frank Trevino), excessive force (current USC sergeant Steven Alegre), failure to diligently investigate a fellow officer (current USC sergeant Rodney Peacock) and more.

DPS, like all police, should be abolished. While many call for reforms of this system, this simply is not enough. The damage that police have done cannot be undone by different policing, especially as policing was created as a system that upholds racism.

The modern-day police itself began as slave patrols that were formed to return runaway enslaved people to their owners and stop uprisings. Centuries of change and reform only have resulted in the continuation and expansion of this racism, such as their enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act and their internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

DPS, another result of reformations, stays true to its racist roots as it disproportionately targets Black and Latinx people. In 2019-2020, 31.7% of DPS stops involved Black people, a demographic that makes up 5.5% of the student body, 8.8% of staff, 3% of faculty and 12% of the people in the University Park area. In 2019, Alpha Phi Alpha, a Black fraternity, and Omega Phi Beta, a Latina sorority, had a tailgate surrounded by a fence and a swarm of DPS officers, while other tailgates did not. DPS does not make campus more safe; it only serves as an apparatus that profiles, arrests and polices people, making them less safe in the process.

DPS doesnt protect USCs campus it encroaches upon the surrounding two-mile radius outside of campus, surveilling, patrolling and profiling local residents who, apart from their proximity, have no connection to our institution, with no say on their part. DPS has over 300 cameras on and off campus, tracking countless non-University-affiliated individuals 24/7.

Reform of DPS in particular has resulted in the most milquetoast of changes, such as the creation of the independent DPS Community Advisory Board. CAB oversees DPS but has no power to do anything in lieu of DPS abuse, rendering it about as useful as a pedestrian watching a high-speed car crash is. They can watch all they want, but that doesnt change anything.

Simply put, police reform does not work, and example after example proves it. How can a system built to be violent toward people of color be reformed to serve these same people? It cant.

DPS, which had a net operating budget of $48,890,000 in 2018-2019, was one of the largest private campus public safety departments in the United States according to its website.

This obscene sum of money could be put toward community-based models that work toward actual safety and support, such as food, shelter and mental health resources that address the needs of those who would otherwise commit crimes out of desperation.

Scholar and activist Angela Davis, who wrote the essential abolitionist text Are Prisons Obsolete? (spoiler alert: her answer is yes), was invited by USC last June to to discuss the various intersections of activism, feminism, prison abolition, politics, writing and more. Davis also wrote an article aptly titled California must lead the way in abolishing school and university campus police in The Sacramento Bee.

Why bring Davis to talk about prison abolition if as an institution, USC wont abolish DPS, an instrument of the carceral system Davis seeks to abolish? The only answer is that USC is performative no, complicit in the violence toward people of color.

Abolition is the only way forward. A new future cannot be built on an old, violently racist foundation such as our police system. DPS is a law enforcement department that trains at the LAPD Police Academy, holds the power of arrest that police hold and hires (failed) police officers. DPS and police in general must be replaced with real public safety that is in the best interest of not only USC and Trojans, but the surrounding community as well.

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Imagining USC as a University Sans Cops - Daily Trojan Online

Joseph Knights prolonged battle to secure his freedom was key to the abolition of slavery in Scotland.

Now the remarkable story of his successful attempt to sue a wealthy Perthshire estate owner who made his fortune from West Indian sugar plantations is to get pride of place in a new 26.5 million attraction expected to retell the story of Scotland.

Knight, one of the few black people living in 18th century Scotland, has been chosen to inspire one of six specially-commissioned banners, or standards, which will be hung at Perths City Hall when it reopens in 2024.

The attraction explores how Scotland was shaped by people, places and events uniquely associated with Perthshire, including the Stone of Destiny, which will go on permanent display there after being relocated from Edinburgh Castle.

Knight will be featured alongside key figures and episodes from the Jacobite Risings, the Battle of Culloden the Highland Clearances in the banners installation, which is expected to remain in place at the new-look City Hall for up to 10 years.

Knight, who was adamant there was no legal basis for slavery in Scotland, spent four years trying to secure his freedom after being refused permission to leave the service of John Wedderburn and move out of his Ballindean estate after falling in love and marrying Annie Thomson, a chambermaid who worked for him.

Their relationship and the legal battle has already inspired the development of a new play, written by May Sumbwanyambe, which will be launched by the National Theatre of Scotland at Pitlochry Festival Theatre in October.

Knight was eventually successful in his case in 1778, effectively making it illegal to own a slave on Scottish soil, although slavery was not abolished throughout the British Empire until 1833.

Perth & Kinross Council, which is leading the City Hall redevelopment, has set aside 10,000 for each of the six commissions for its banner installation.

Its brief for artists states: This is an exciting opportunity to create work that tells a vital part of the story of Perth and Scotland, to be placed in a major new museum in the centre of Perth.

"We want this new work to tell new stories about historic events, stories that deserve to be heard and have not been told before.

"Within the new museum is a key space on the ground floor immediately adjacent to the Stone of Destiny display area.

"It is intended as a space for reflection and contemplation in terms of the impact of history on people and place.

Fiona Robertson, head of culture at Perth and Kinross Council, said: These new commissions are one of the ways in which we are supporting artists through new opportunities to create work for the stunning City Hall museum.

JP Reid, exhibitions and interpretation officer at Culture Perth and Kinross, the trust which will run the new museum on behalf of the council, said: Scotlands major historical events like the Clearances and the Jacobite Risings had a profound and very particular impact on people and places in Perth and Kinross.

"These new commissions will commemorate those important moments.

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Slave's legal battle in Scotland to inspire work of art for new national museum in Perth - The Scotsman

Activists involved in the 2012 abolition of capital punishment in Connecticut say the perspectives of murder victims families was the key element in their campaigns success.

Even Michael Lawlor, the states criminal justice czar at the time, confirmed that those testimonies made huge impressions on lawmakers and the media.

There were many arguments that were effective in abolishing the death penalty, but none was more effective than the authentic voices of individuals who had experienced these tragedies in their own lives. Not the families of the persons who had been condemned to death, but the families of the people who had been killed, Lawlor said during a recent webinar sponsored by Equal Justice USA to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Connecticut victory it helped orchestrate.

Another goal of the virtual panel discussion hosted by EJUSA Executive Director Jamila Hodge was to share strategy ideas with anti-death-penalty movements in other states and to demonstrate that success often leads to changes in other areas of criminal justice.

Those changes have included mandatory minimum sentences for drug possession near school zones, raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction and changing all drug possession charges to misdemeanors, among others.

The families of murder victims were key in shaping the criminal justice reforms that followed the abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut, said Lawlor, a member of the states House of Representatives until 2011, when he became the governors undersecretary for criminal justice policy and planning.

I think the voices of victims have been in favor of progressive reforms for a system that has the goals of preventing crime, making sure other people dont experience the kind of victimization that they themselves had experienced. To me, the end goal here is to have less crime.

How am I going to get mad about somebody taking my sons life, and now I want to take somebody elses childs life? The boy that murdered my son, he had a mother. I couldnt live with myself if I took that life.

The boy that murdered my son, he had a mother. I couldnt live with myself if I took that life.

Coward said her message to politicians about murderers was powerfully simple: Just put them in jail and let time do what it has to do. Let them live with what they did. I think the mind is a better source of getting at you than just killing off people. You cant kill everybody.

She also opposed the death penalty because the millions of dollars it requires for incarceration and decades of appeals before execution. That money would be better spent providing financial and mental health assistance to victims relatives, she believes. Especially for those in urban areas.

Theres a whole lot of inner-city families who dont say anything about what they are feeling on the inside. They just go through it. Its like a fog that you go through, and you just maneuver your way around life. Its just so unfair. Especially these mothers and fathers who have young children and they have to work.

Another criticism of state-sanctioned executions is that many have been improper, and often racist, applications of death penalty statutes, she and other panelists said.

Race was a high-profile issue in the Connecticut death penalty debate after the home-invasion murders of a white mother and her two daughters in 2007. The surviving father, a physician severely injured in the assault, actively opposed abolition, and a 2009 bill repealing the practice was vetoed as a result.

But the aftermath left Black victims feeling ignored because their cases rarely got such attention, said Coward, whose son was murdered shortly after the white familys killing.

It was tough because I felt like there was a lot of racism going on at the time, separating the urban community from the suburban. I felt a life is a life, period. He lost a family, but my son is just as important as his family.

Testimony from victims like Coward helped sell other elements of the campaign that eventually resulted in the 2012 repeal, said Kica Matos, vice president of initiatives at the Vera Institute of Justice and one of the leaders of the Connecticut anti-death-penalty movement.

It also was important to bring Black people into the leadership of the movement and to push the idea that executing prisoners does not make society safer, she said.

The death penalty is deeply racist. Its really expensive. Its a punishment that focuses on violence. You remove the death penalty and you create space for conversations about reforms in the criminal legal system that actually have a chance at addressing the concerns of impacted communities and the concerns of victims families. Theres an opportunity to test and pilot viable strategies that get at both reducing crime, but also bringing resources to underserved communities that are the most impacted by crime.

Matos added that abolitionists must work quietly to influence decision-makers while also being vocal when necessary: We were loud. We were not afraid to turn the volume up. But we were working ferociously behind the scenes to make sure that both strategies were harmonious with each other.

Lawlor added that it was the campaigns victim-focused public-relations strategy that helped seal the eventual win.

And I think that is a surprise to people, including journalists who are covering this stuff, which is the way the voice gets out into the community and then back to the elected officials. And there were so many journalists who were interested in learning more about the victims perspective. It just changed the discussion around this whole thing.

Related articles:

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Panel of faith leaders will raise awareness of death penalty injustice

The death penalty is dying a slow death; its time we pull the plug| Opinion by Stephen Reeves

Its official now: Death penalty no more in Virginia

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Hearing from victims' families changed the death penalty debate in Connecticut - Baptist News Global

There are no plans to get rid of Arts Council England as part of a review of public bodies, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has told MPs.

Appearing before the DCMS Select Committee today, Dorries said that while the system for distributing arts and culture funding around England - a function carried out by ACE - is "not perfect", there are no plans to axe the organisation.

Asked whether possible abolition of ACE was on her agenda, she replied: "Absolutely not."

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Under plans set out by Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Public Bodies Review Programme will require DCMS to review its public bodies.

It will needto assess whether their function should be delivered by the state, or whether an alternative, such as abolition, privatisation, or a merger is "more fitting".

Quizzed by committee chair Kevin Brennan on the potential implications for ACE, Dorries said that getting rid of the body would result in a need for more civil servants at the department to carry out its functions - something government is keen to avoid.

"If there were a proposal to abolish the arm's-length body that distributes [arts] funding, what we would probably need is an increase in the number of civil servants to do that distribution," Dorries said.

"So I think the argument that we need to reduce the number of civil servants and reduce the arm's length body kind of compete with each other.

"For me what's important is that the money goes out into the areas of the UK where it has never been spent before, outside of the South East and London.

"As Secretary of State of DCMS I would fight very strongly the corner for the distribution of arts funding and the maintaining of levels of arts funding across the UK."

Committee chair Kevin Brennan also quizzed Dorries about ongoing efforts to redistribute arts funding outside of London, expressing concern that some organisations are attempting to "game the system" by registering at postal addresses in parts of the country where they have no roots.

Dorries said she is aware of a London-based organisation in receipt of ACE funding attempting such a thing.

"I have actually spoken to a museum in the far North of England who have been written to by an NPO based in London asking them whether they could register their NPO at the museum's address."

"I am raising this issue at my next meeting with Arts Council England."

As part of a wide-ranging session, Dorries also outlined government progress in relation to efforts to achieve fair payment for songwriters and composers from music streaming, something the committee called for action on in a report published last July.

"As a government we are right behind your recommendations," Dorries said.

"We want to get to a place where we can see all of those unrecouped earnings paid and get to a place where those individual artists receive fair remuneration."

Speaking in a debate in the House of Commons yesterday (18 May), DCMS Minister Julia Lopez, who has responsibility for creative industries, said government is progressing with efforts to address the situation and is considering potential changes to legislation.

Lopez said that the Intellectual Property Office is working alongside industry experts to develop solutions to issues around contract transparency and music metadata.

"That will have an impact on the way in which songwriters and composers are remunerated for their work on streaming," she said.

"We have also commissioned independent research on the impact of potential legislative interventions aimed at improving creator remuneration."

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Dorries: abolition of ACE 'not on government agenda' - ArtsProfessional

One in four women and girls in the UK have struggled to afford period products in the last year, research has found.

Nearly 83% of those surveyed by charity WaterAid said more needs to be done as the cost of living crisis makes shopping for everyday needs increasingly unaffordable.

Some 2,000 British women, girls and non-binary people who menstruate and are aged 14 to 50 took part in the survey, with nearly a third (32%) saying they are worried they will not be able to afford period products in the future.

One in four (26%) are wearing period products for longer than they should, risking their health - while an additional one in five are coping by using makeshift materials such as toilet paper or sponges.

An anonymous respondent said: "I am using the cheapest toilet roll I can find to use for periods. It's not hygienic or recommended, but it's all I can afford."

With Menstrual Hygiene Day coming up on 28 May, the international charity is calling for menstrual health to be recognised as critical for gender equality, so no one is unfairly held back during their period.

School-aged girls are among the worst affected, with two in five (41%) worrying about adding to the financial burden of their parent or caregiver, and one in five (20%) saying they missed school or work because they could not afford period products.

The charity reported that a third of schools lack decent toilets - another reason many girls miss classes during their periods.

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One student said that cheaper period products would improve their mental health because they "wouldn't have the worry of keeping money aside".

"I wouldn't worry about the fact that I might not be able to afford period products for my next period which would mean I would miss work and university," she said.

In the last year, 22% have relied on free period products from work, school, a food bank or other charity, while nearly a quarter (24%) reported missing social activities.

Girls 'cutting back on food' to pay for period products

A separate survey by Plan International UK also found that girls and young women are using makeshift items because they cannot afford period products - with items like toilet paper, socks, newspaper and fabric used.

Nearly a fifth (19%) have been unable to afford period products at all this year, while one in 10 of the 1,000 UK respondents used a food bank to get what they needed.

Half of girls who struggled to afford period products since the start of 2022 said they had to cut back on food and groceries to be able to buy them - almost double compared with last year.

Read more: See how much your spending has increased over the past five years

Rose Caldwell, chief executive of Plan International UK, said: "As we look to an uncertain future, many more families will face tough financial choices, and more young women than ever are likely to face issues affording the products they need. Period products are a necessity, not a luxury, and they need to be treated as such."

Support provided in recent years includes free period products in schools and the abolition of the tampon tax in January 2021.

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Cost of living: One in four women and girls struggle to afford period products in UK - with some cutting back on food, using toilet roll and missing...

In February, Spotifys Frequency, the streamers celebration of Black culture, creativity, and community hosted the Free Studio, a four-day residency to provide the space and resources for Black creators across various mediums to explore and expand their creative boundaries. The process was captured and formatted for a short film documenting the rising artists whose work is making an impact on mainstream culture.

When it came across my desk, it was just like, yes. I just realized at that moment, [that] documentary filmmaking is what I was born to do. And right off the bat, I just felt so connected to this project, shared director Anthony Prince Leslie of Equator Productions during a conversation with VIBE.

Ultimately, this is a creative studio for the freedom of Black expression, and free Black expression for me is being unapologetic in all the unique, complex ways we are as Black people, dancing to the beat of our own drum, sharing our culture without boundaries.

He continued, I just wanted to just show these artists in their true light and who they are. Them being able to be their best self and that shining through their work is the main thread between all of these seven artists that I got to work with.

The Black creators or platforms selected include Mike Brown of The Art Of Letting Go Podcast, visual artist and designer Shefon Taylor, dancer and choreographer Thom Kitt, musician Doechii, rapper Larry June, Vic Mensa, Indigo Mateo, and Richie Reseda of the Abolition X podcast, and music producer Sango.

The team commissioned filmmaker Anthony Prince Leslie to create a documentary exploring Black creativity, expressed Kimberly Summers, Hip Hop and R&B Manager, Artist & Label Partnerships at Spotify to VIBE in a statement describing how some of the artists, as well as the director himself, were selected.

With that in mind, we selected artists that embody the energy of unfiltered, creative expression through their music. Sangos ability to tell a story through different sounds, rhythms, and melodies is undeniable. Hailing from the Bay, Larry June brings an authentic perspective and sound to tracks, which people gravitate to and feel like theyre home. And of course, Doechii is that girl. Her presence, her energy, really cant be explained and it comes through in all of her music and the accompanying visuals. All of these artists prove that blackness is not monolithic and cannot be defined or confined by one genre or sound.

The 11-minute documentary uses its time well, portraying the meaning and motives behind each talents lifes work. This is done by capturing behind-the-scenes footage at recording studios, dance studios, recording sessions, and intimate conversations with Leslie in the artistic community fostered by Frequency. Developing the visual encompassed its own creative process and as a filmmaker, Leslie moved with intention.

I wanted to show these artists in their own world and who they are and this bubble. Because sometimes we find ourselves and realize that were in our own bubble. So technically, I got this angle thats streamlined throughout each artist where were overhead with the fisheye lens, shared the Brooklyn-bred filmmaker. It creates this circular motion around all the artists and we get to live in their world for a second, overhead, and see what it looks like in the snapshot. Then we dive into who they are and try to dig a little bit beneath the surface, metaphorically. Theres a lot of, Hi, my name is. And I think I just wanted to get to the meat of it.

Spotify Frequency was launched in May 2021 as the brands way of empowering Black creators. The division was created in direct response to the current social and political climate in which Black voices in music, fashion, business, and more continue to be left out and their contributions underappreciated and underrepresented. Officially, Frequency is described as a global initiative and holistic destination for celebrating Black art, entertainment, creativity, culture, and community both on- and off-platform.

Frequency is invested in exploring Black creativity and highlighting the importance of creating spaces dedicated to it while celebrating Black creators. Our goal with Frequency is to continue to build community and highlight the different stories and sounds through intentional partnerships with artists, producers, songwriters, and creators, explained Summers.

Watch the Free Studio Documentary directed by Anthony Prince Leslie presented by Spotify Frequency above.

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Premiere: Spotifys Frequency Presents The Free Studio Documentary Showcasing The Freedom Of Black Creativity - Vibe