Revisiting the need for police, four years after international Black Lives Matter protests

Criminal defense, expungement, legal education, and advocacy

The New Jim Crow is a stunning account of the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status—denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement.

If a loved one, client, or community member has been arrested and cannot afford bail, you can submit a request for help.

Authored by MNJRC's 2024 Re-Imagining Justice Conference keynote speaker Shawn Ginwright, PhD, this book breaks down the common myths of social movements–a set of deeply ingrained beliefs that actually hold us back from healing and achieving sustainable systemic change.

The overall size, or “footprint,” of the American criminal justice system remains well above historical levels, but it has shrunk substantially in recent years. This series of interactive charts summarizes trends in crime, arrests, and correctional control (incarceration and community supervision), comparing current levels with their most recent peaks or valleys.

The list of 15 legislative proposals that make up the Justice for All Coalition's 2023 agenda that offer a new vision for public safety

Q&A with RSC member Dr. Joshua Page - In the US, people charged with a crime usually need to post a large cash bond to be released before trial — a system used barely anywhere else in the world. This doesn’t enhance public safety and causes great hardship to defendants and families. There’s a better way, researchers say.

After completing a comprehensive investigation, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights finds there is probable cause that the City and MPD engage in a pattern or practice of race discrimination in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

The Square One Project is on a search for the best ideas about how to make justice a reality for all.

The Columbia Justice Lab is a university research center whose work focuses on crime and criminal justice policy. We conduct research on incarceration, community supervision, reentry, youth development, community safety, narrative change, and racial justice.

In Until We Reckon by Danielle Sered, the executive director of Common Justice and renowned expert on violence, offers pragmatic solutions that take the place of prison, meet ing the needs of survivors, and creating pathways for people who have committed violence to repair harm.

After decades of overpolicing and ever-more punitive criminal justice measures, the time has come for a new approach to violence and community safety. Parsimony and Other Radical Ideas About Justice brings together leading activists, legal practitioners, and researchers, many of them justice-involved, to envision a justice system that applies a less-is-more framework to achieve the goal of public safety.

From the Prison Policy Initiative

A research-backed guide for building bridges across difference in any area of our lives, from esteemed civil rights scholar john a.

MN Women's Press Editor Mikki Morrissette moderated a discussion on Re-imagining Public Safety with Michele Braley, Matthew Walker, Deneal Trueblood-Lynch, and Leah Robshaw Robinson at the 2023 Community Connections Conference

Laws in 48 states ban people with felony convictions from voting. In 2022, an estimated 4.6 million Americans, representing 2 percent of the voting-age population, will be ineligible to vote due to these laws or policies, many of which date back to the post-Reconstruction era. This 2022 report updates and expands upon 20 years of work chronicling the scope and distribution of felony disenfranchisement in the United States.

Research Steering Committee member Dr. Josh Page and his colleague Dr. Joe Soss argue that to understand how and why criminal justice operates as it does today, one must attend to its predatory dimensions.

Common Justice develops and advances solutions to violence that transform the lives of those harmed and foster racial equity without relying on incarceration.

“This timely survey shows common ground on real solutions” and “Opportunities to bridge across racial and political spectrum.”

The Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL), based in the School’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government, supports state and local governments across the country in designing and implementing solutions to pressing social problems.

An unforgettable true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to end mass incarceration in America — from one of the most inspiring lawyers of our time.

Minnesota Freedom Fund’s court watchers highlight the realities of our legal system by recording data, uncover untold stories, identify trends, and hold the courts accountable.

We are a mighty team of trainers, researchers, educators, movers, and shakers that equip schools, youth-serving organizations, foundations, and local governments with tools and strategies that allow young people of color to flourish.

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To inform the urgent debate on crime policy, in August of 2022, Alliance for Safety and Justice commissioned a second National Survey of Victims’ Views. This report describes the findings from this survey and points to opportunities for further research and reform to advance policies that align with the needs and perspectives of victims.

Research Steering Committee member Dr. Michelle Phelps conducted a case study on Minneapolis in the process of police reform (or transformation). How do activists, residents, and city leaders diagnose the problem in policing -- and its potential solutions?

A Report on the Cash Bail System