Criminal Court Processes are Punishments Themselves

It is critical that Americans also acknowledge that powerful institutions inflict violence on people presumed innocent under the law every day. As it stands, the system is directly at odds with the idea that Americans are “innocent until proven guilty”, inflicting severe and traumatizing punishment long before a person sees a jury of their peers.

Policing and Punishing Childhood

Transportation Access and the Criminal Legal System

"Collateral Consequences" of the Criminal Legal System: An Overview

Gang Documentation and Gang Injunctions Harm Communities

How Probation and Parole Drive Mass Incarceration

We must confront the fact that we cannot empty our prisons and jails without addressing the influx of people pushed through community supervision into incarceration.

Debt and Punishment: An American Cycle

Our legal system targets poor people, and then makes it more likely that they will both stay poor and stay in legal trouble.

Public Benefits Access and the Criminal System

Access to public benefits may be an under-appreciated public safety mechanism. When people are able to pay their rent, support their families, not go hungry, have a roof over their heads, and have access to healthcare, they are less likely to engage in crime.

Housing is a Crucial Safety Intervention

In addition to promoting programs that help people secure housing, we must deliberately shrink the criminal legal system in order to expand housing access.

Empowering Public Defenders Transforms The Legal System

In its current form, the American carceral system robs people of opportunity, tears families apart, and destabilizes entire communities. Unlike police, prisons, and prosecutors, public defenders are uniquely situated to empower those facing the criminal legal system, shrink the system itself by reducing incarceration, and transform our approach to public safety.

Access to Education Creates Safety

Interacting with the police, being arrested, or spending time behind bars make it more difficult for a person to get a quality education and access to opportunity. If we care about improving opportunity—and public safety—through education, we must consider shrinking the criminal legal system itself.

The Carceral System and Mental Health/Substance Use Disorders

We must stop using jail as a substitute for care.

Strong Social Ties Increase Safety

It turns out relationships are everything.

Arrests are Driving Housing Loss

The first step to reducing homelessness might be reducing arrests.

Incarceration Destroys Health

Just a few years behind bars can increase risk of death by 80% and shave a decade off a person's life.

Generational Harm

Children and families are the "hidden victims" of the legal system.

What Really Lowers Crime

It turns out income, housing, and access to care are key in creating public safety.

Impact of the Carceral System on Economic Stability and Mobility

The criminal legal system is keeping people poor.