Name: Dorsey Smith

Social Justice Group: 2021-2022, Mass Incarceration in the U.S.

Date of Fieldwork: February 11, 2022

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Law Judge-Casilda Roper-Simpson

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :

We interviewed Casilda Roper-Simpson, a Law Judge that works mostly on criminal cases. She has worked on public assistance, Medicaid, food stamps (SNAP) shelter allowance and assistance with rental arrears to prevent eviction. These topics are all connected into mass incarceration in some way and we got to learn about what its like being a law judge

In the interview she talked about how mass incarceration tears families apart, targets black families and communities, and how it’s a billion dollar business. “Mass incarceration comes form the lack of resources in communities.” “Mass incarceration rips families apart, targets families of color, and costs tax payers 260 billion dollars a year.” She gave us an incredible insight on what its like being a law judge and gave us a ton of great information.