Criminal Justice or Criminal Injustice?
Wes Janz’s project asked his Ball State students to respond to former Mayor Ballard’s call for a new Criminal Justice Center in downtown Indianapolis. Through this response, students rethink their understandings (and misunderstandings) of the prison-industrial complex including racial disparities in arrests and sentencing, power of prosecuting attorneys, high rates of recidivism, private corporate profiteering, the language of incarceration (inmates, convicts, prisoners, felons) that brands citizens throughout their life, and more. At the HLP Open House, the students offered images and statements related to their research and realizations. The project aims to challenge our preconceptions of the citizens convicted of crimes against society.
