What Really Lowers Crime

It turns out income, housing, and access to care stand a much better chance of creating public safety than policing or incarceration ever will.
Read the ReportIn 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.
Read the ReportInteracting 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.
Read the ReportThe first step to reducing homelessness might be reducing arrests.
Read the ReportThe criminal legal system is keeping people poor.
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