New Discussion Page

Welcome. As of May 8, we launched our new discussion page to coincide with the new mission and vision of the site. Thanks for taking an interest. Discussion and comments on the Facebook page help shape this website.

Discussion Topics. The following topics are the primary focus of the discussion page and the Justice Center web page:

• Corrections
• Courts
• Infrastructure and Resources Needed at the County-Level to Serve the Above Needs
• Jail Alternatives and Diversion Programs
• Justice Reinvestment
• Law Enforcement – Innovations and Reforms for Laws, Policing, and Enforcement that produce the best possible outcomes.
• Legal Education – Reporting on relevant news from the University of Iowa College of Law as it relates to the local justice system.
• Mental Health Services
• Racial Disparity – Innovations and Reforms for Laws, Policing, and Enforcement that Reduce Racial Disparity in the Justice System
• Reentry Services
• Social Services, Initiatives, Programs, PSAs, and Public Education that Reduce Precursors to Crime
• Substance Abuse Programs
• Youth Programs

Discussion Process and Impact. Local news stories relating to justice system services are posted to the Facebook page. Included are any local presentations or commentary about related issues. Relevant national stories, studies, and government agency reports are also included. Responses to these and related discussion then shape what information gets placed on the evolving website. The chart below presents this visually.

Rules. We support a healthy, robust, and open civic participation on our Facebook Page. Supporter or not, the rules of civility will apply on this page. Our Facebook page is built with the purpose of providing factual information, evidence and news to those who support, or would like to learn more about, the building of a Justice Center to address the serious deficiencies and needs that have faced Johnson County for years. Those who oppose are welcome to engage in civil conversation about our differences, so long as it does not violate our standards and guidelines. Thank You.

• Profanity. Vulgarity and profanity do not add to a civil dialog. If you’re posting here and using words that are typically bleeped on television, your posts will be removed.
• Personal Attacks. Any comments about a person’s character, residential location, criminal record, intelligence, etc. will be removed. Please keep discussions on topic and not about other people.
• Off-Topic Ramblings. Please have personal discussions off the Facebook page and use personal messaging or email instead.

Moderation Guidelines. As with any online discussion, sometimes moderation is needed to keep the discussion on-topic and relevant for those visiting the page. Additionally, as mentioned above, rude comments, insults, profanity, or personal attacks will be marked as spam and hidden. Anyone on our page who is perceived to be using personal attacks to intentionally incite people will be banned.

Open Discussion. As mentioned above, our Facebook page is a place for open discussion. While we are of course desirous to share our views, we don’t want to silence those in opposition who have valid concerns or points to raise. You’ll find many opposition comments have been posted and remain on our page, including links to their pages, materials, and resources. To those who feel silenced or those who are uncomfortable posting something, feel free to submit an article on a relevant topic and we’ll give it premium exposure on our main news feed. We also extend this invitation to members of the opposition who don’t want to increase our page ‘Like’ count and don’t want Facebook (or their friends) to think they ‘Like’ (or support) the Justice Center.

Going Above and Beyond. In addition to maintaining all of the above efforts to support an open, balanced, and fair dialog, postings from the opposition that are relevant to the topic of incarceration reduction are being aggregated, organized, and posted to JusticeEquity.com where you can find links to the opposition website resources. Although Facebook does a good job of facilitating real-time discussions, it doesn’t result in an organized and easy to navigate presentation of information.

Restricted Access. Anyone who is banned will need to find someone else to post for them. The banning function on Facebook automatically hides all of the previous posts by any banned member. This is unfortunate, but it’s how the system works. If you see a comment from anyone that seems offensive or in violation of the discussion rules, please report it. We do our best, but we’re not able to have our eyes on every single comment and rely on people from both sides to help us in this task. We don’t expect our opposition to do our work for us, but we leave this invitation open to them as a courtesy to engage their involvement in the fair administration of the page. If you have a moderation request, click here or the button above.