Top Five Criminal Justice Videos of 2008

by Matt Kelley · 2008-12-18 05:29:00 UTC
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2008 is winding down, and over the next two weeks I'll be reviewing some of the year's highlights and lowlights. Here are my five favorite criminal justice videos of the past year:

Good Magazine's"Jailbirds"

New York Civil Liberties Union and Fortune Society on the right to vote. We saw more felons vote in this election year than ever before, but thousands of people with felony convictions still don't have the right. The key will be continuing to push for expanded felon voting rights in 2009. It'll be an uphill battle without the momentum of an election year, but we can do it.

The War on Drugs in 100 seconds: from the Marijuana Policy Project, with the words of author Michael Pollan.

Empowering the Yard - I just posted this one recently, but I like it so much it had to make the list. A profile of an HIV/AIDS prevention program behind the walls of an Oklahoma women's prison - an empowering prison education tool and a model for community public health advocacy.

The Troy Davis case - a great four-minute recap of the struggle surrounding one of the high-profile death penalty cases this year. Davis has come within days of execution three times, but his appeals continue. The campaign to win him a new trial has used video very effectively, listen to Davis' story in his own words here and watch a touching birthday message for Troy.

Honorable mention (since it was made in 2007) - "Up the Ridge" - This is a one-minute trailer for a documentary about Holler to the Hood, a radio show in the small town outside of Wallens Ridge prison in Virginia. If you like this one, be sure to check out the 10-minute YouTube video on the two advocates behind the radio show, it's worth it. And take a look at the website of Thousand Kites, their organization.

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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