Breaking down how the NYPD uses Criminal Conspiracy Laws to police youth and charge them with "gang involvement", simply because of who they know.

Students

<p>In April 2016, the NYPD raided two Eastchester housing complexes in the Bronx and arrested 120 people. Despite descriptions as the "largest gang takedown in New York City history," over half the arrestees were never even charged as gang members. How did this all happen? Criminal Conspiracy Laws -- originally used to bring down organized crime like the mafia -- are being used by NYPD to police youth and charge them with "gang involvement", simply because of who they know. For many low-income teens of color, basic activities like having friends in one's neighborhood, are used to justify arrest at alarming rates.</p>
<p>What are criminal conspiracy laws? What's the NYPD gang database? How do these laws and police practices impact local communities?</p>
<p>In the summer of 2019, CUP collaborated with Teaching Artist Ro Garrido and students from the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn to dig deep into criminal conspiracy laws and their impact on local community members, interview stakeholders working on the issue, and create art to show what they learned. The group teamed up with designer Marcela Szwarc and created the booklet, <em>Swept Up</em>, to educate others and help them get involved in the issue.<br /></p>
<h3>Check out more photos of the students in action <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cup_photos/albums/72157709582903547">here</a>! <br /></h3>

<p>“I was surprised by how many people are actually affected by this issue. I didn’t even know about criminal conspiracy [laws] until I did this program. A lot of people are getting harassed and locked up for no reason."</p>

<p>The cover and spread from <em>Swept Up</em>.</p>

Check out the Project

Swept Up

<p><strong>Center For Urban Pedagogy</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/fielding-hong">Fielding Hong</a><br /><a href="https://welcometocup.org/assets/images/Leigh.jpg">Leigh Taylor</a></p>

<p><strong>Educational Partner</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/red-hook-community-justice-center" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Red Hook Community Justice Center</a></strong></p>
<p>Viviana Gordon<br />Sabrina Carter<br />Leslie Gonzaga<br /></p>

<p><strong>Teaching Artist &amp; Designer</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/ro-garrido" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ro Garrido</a><a href="https://welcometocup.org/people/marcela-szwarc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><br />Marcela Szwarc</a></p>

Project Collaborators

<h3><br /></h3>
<h4><strong>Students</strong></h4>
<p>Anthony Avery, Jaydah Baez, Malik Boston, Bianca Corbin, Justina Gonzalez-Delgado, Jamel Evans, Jarrett Evans, Devon Minns, Antonio Rivera, Omari Scarboro, Michael Williams<br /></p>

<h4><strong>Special Thanks</strong><br /></h4>
<p>Priscilla Bustamante, Miranda Grundy, Vidal Guzman, Jade Levine, Nidhi Subramanyam, El-Sun White, Liliana Zaragoza</p>
<h4><strong>Product Details</strong></h4>
<p>6″×8″ stapled booklet, 12 pages</p>
<h4><strong>Funding Support</strong></h4>
<p>Support for this project was provided by Christine Coletta Bockelman &amp; Matt Bockelman, Susannah Drake, Birte Falconer, Iben Falconer &amp; Neil Donnelly, Beom Jun Kim &amp; Leticia Wouk Almino, Inbar Kishoni, Lauren Kogod &amp; David Smiley, Raj Kottamasu, Francis Lam, Mehretu-Rankin Family, Metropolitan Paper Recycling Inc., Jeremy Robinson-Leon, Tal Schori, Dan Wiley, the CUP Board of Directors, and more than 200 CUP supporters.</p>
<p><br /></p>

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Hyperakt is a purpose-driven design and innovation studio that elevates human dignity and ignites curiosity. Since 2001, co-founders Julia Zeltser and Deroy Peraza, along with the Hyperakt team, have been partnering with change-makers moving society forward. We believe in design’s power to build a future filled with courage, optimism, and honesty.

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The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a nonprofit organization that uses the power of design and art to increase meaningful civic engagement in partnership with historically marginalized communities.

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