James Forman, Jr. Quotes

In court, judges tell people that their conviction carries a sentence of years, or probation. The truth is far more terrible. People convicted of crimes often become social outcasts for life, finding it difficult or impossible to rent an apartment, get a job, adopt children, access public benefits, serve on juries, or vote.

- James Forman, Jr.

African-Americans have always viewed the protection of black lives as a civil rights issue, whether the threat comes from police officers or street criminals. Far from ignoring the issue of crime by blacks against other blacks, African-American officials and their constituents have been consumed by it.

- James Forman, Jr.

We must continue to recruit progressive prosecutors to run in local elections, support those who do, and hold them accountable if they win.

- James Forman, Jr.

Mass incarceration and its never-ending human toll will be with us until we come to see that no crime justifies permanent civic death.

- James Forman, Jr.

One consequence of racism and segregation is that many American whites know little or nothing about the daily lives of African Americans. Black America's least-understood communities are those poor, hyper-segregated places we once called ghettos. These neighborhoods are not far away, but they might as well be on the moon.

- James Forman, Jr.

Actually creating a positive school climate, particularly in schools that are in communities that are themselves not calm and orderly, is hard work.

- James Forman, Jr.

While mass incarceration is a national crisis, it was built locally.

- James Forman, Jr.

Mass incarceration is the result of small, distinct steps, each of whose significance becomes more apparent over time, and only when considered in light of later events.

- James Forman, Jr.

I had gone to law school thinking that I would do something in the service of black people.

- James Forman, Jr.

I clerked for a judge, William Norris, on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals right after law school and then for Justice O'Connor the next year.

- James Forman, Jr.

How come we never use prison, the failure of prison, as a reason not to give more prison? There's never a moment where we say, 'OK, well, prison hasn't worked, so we're not going to try that again.'

- James Forman, Jr.

There can be racism in a system even if a particular episode of injustice is not a manifestation of that racism. Every single thing in the criminal justice system is not a manifestation of racism, but many things are.

- James Forman, Jr.

I find it very frustrating how much passing the buck there is in the criminal justice system when it comes to taking responsibility for outcomes.

- James Forman, Jr.

The fundamental problem for the teaching profession is how undervalued it is and how underpaid teachers are.

- James Forman, Jr.

The only news most people ever hear about the inner city comes from grim headlines; the only residents they can name are characters on 'The Wire.' Of course, ignorance of a community doesn't stop outsiders from having opinions about it or passing laws that govern it.

- James Forman, Jr.

It's not easy. I make snap judgments, too, and I start to write people off. And then I start to remind myself of how I'm constantly asking judges not to write people off. And so then I try to resist it.

- James Forman, Jr.

What if we strove for compassion, for mercy, for forgiveness? And what if we did this for everybody, including people who have harmed others?

- James Forman, Jr.

We need to hire more black police officers in this country because these are good jobs, and African Americans should have their fair share of good jobs. But we shouldn't do it because we think that's going to change policing. We have to push for police reform in other ways.

- James Forman, Jr.

Mass incarceration will have to be dismantled the same way it was constructed: piecemeal, incrementally and, above all, locally.

- James Forman, Jr.

In terms of addressing crime issues in the black community, the dominant political class has historically refused to endorse the full slate of reforms along lines of education, economic security, housing, etc, necessary to address the root causes.

- James Forman, Jr.

Prosecutors committed to reform need talented staff members who share that commitment, and our best legal talent should flock to their offices.

- James Forman, Jr.

Most people that take jobs as police officers are taking them because they're good jobs. Many who go into these jobs are doing it because it's good work.

- James Forman, Jr.

At the end of the day, I think my story is, we need black officers because African-Americans need a fair shot at good jobs in this country, but we cannot expect them and should not expect them to change the nature of policing.

- James Forman, Jr.

We rarely have good alternatives to offer to prison - that's our default.

- James Forman, Jr.

A black man of my generation born in the late 1960s is more than twice as likely to go to prison in his lifetime then a black man of my father's generation. I was born after the Voting Rights Act, after the Civil Rights Act, after the Fair Housing Act.

- James Forman, Jr.

Attica. The name itself has long signified resistance to prison abuse and state violence.

- James Forman, Jr.

Our system never treated the failure of prison as a reason not to try more prison.

- James Forman, Jr.

You can get rid of the teacher certification requirements, and you're still not going to have a rush of incredibly high-quality people going into teaching as long as teachers are valued in the way they currently are. The way we value people is by how much we pay them.

- James Forman, Jr.

I think I've always had that orientation to try to understand the humanity behind people with whom I disagree.

- James Forman, Jr.