Criminal Justice
Thu Jun 6, 2013
Governor Brian Sandoval signed ground breaking anti-sex trafficking legislation in the presence of ‘Nevadans for the Common Good.’ Leaders had fought hard to crack down on the pimps that recruit young people into prostitution, including organizing assemblies, press conferences and legislative visits to Carson City. Said Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, “Nevadans for the Common Good have been a driving force behind this bill.” Temple Beth Sinai leader Camille Naaktgeboren (center) stands with other NCG leaders and bill supporters.
[Photo Credit: Cathleen Allison, Las Vegas Review Journal]
Governor Signs Sex Trafficking Bill Aimed at Pimps, Las Vegas Review Journal
Thu Jan 24, 2013
“A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy (AMOS) has successfully gotten a Court Watcher program off the ground in Polk County….Like similar programs around the country, the goal is to witness the criminal justice system in action. The presence of an outsider in a courtroom signals to judges, prosecutors and others that the community cares about how its government is treating citizens when they find themselves in trouble with the law.”
30 AMOS leaders “attended the first court watcher training …in Des Moines earlier this month. Another 30 are scheduled to go through training soon. The Rev. Denny Coon, pastor of Walnut Hills United Methodist Church in Urbandale, said his first experience as an observer was enlightening but somewhat troubling….”
[Photo Credit: Andrea Melendez, Des Moines Register]
Court Watch Programs Puts Citizen Eyes on Court, Des Moines Register
In the News
Restorative Justice, Juvenile Justice, Youth Intervention
Des Moines Register
AMOS Helps Keep Youth Out of the Court System
Sunday, March 24, 2013
“Cy was a choir director, community leader and maker of fine clocks. When I knew him, he was 80 years old and lay leader of the church I served. One snowy morning, he came to my office and simply said, ‘We have to go to Albert Lea.’ I said, ‘That is in Minnesota, and they have lots of snow.’
Then he told me a boy in the parish, one that we had recently confirmed, was in trouble with the law in Albert Lea. So Cy, the boy’s father and I drove through the snowy Midwest to bring the boy home…”
Sex Trafficking, Criminal Justice, Neighborhood Safety
Las Vegas Sun
NCG Leaders Pack First Hearing on Sex-Trafficking in Nevada
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
‘Nevadans for the Common Good’ leaders Andrea Swanson and Camille Naaktgeboren testified before the Assembly and Senate judiciary committees for Assembly Bill 67. “You take a domestic violence abuser, you take a rapist and you take a child abuser and you put them all in one and you have a pimp,” said Andrea Swanson.. [Photo Credit: Cathleen Allison, AP]
Sex Trafficking, Neighborhood, Criminal Justice, Community Organizing in Nevada, Community Organizing in Vegas, AB67
Las Vegas Sun
Las Vegas Outsiders Learn to Play Inside Game
Friday, February 15, 2013
David and his wife, Barbara Paulsen, are part of a group of about 40 volunteers flying and driving to the state capital, where they will lobby the Legislature to toughen the state’s sex-trafficking laws. They want to make it easier to prosecute violent pimps and impose stiffer penalties while helping victims of the Las Vegas sex trade get treatment...
