Civic Engagement

Justice

The Challenge

When we talk about race and justice, we’re talking about the ways that discrimination, policing, prosecutions, and incarceration practices impact Black communities. 

Our criminal justice system is shaped by biased policing and unfair judicial precedents, rooted in anti-Blackness and racial disparity. The emotional, mental, physical, and financial impact on our communities is a tangible experience for millions of Black people in the U.S. The cost of an unjust justice system is high.

  • Black people are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites.
  • 65 percent of Black adults have felt targeted because of their race. Similarly, approximately 35 percent of Latino and Asian adults have felt targeted because of race.
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Black men are five times more likely to be stopped without just cause than a white person.

What We're Fighting For

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Form a diverse and fair federal judiciary

We need a fair and balanced judiciary that reflects all aspects of the legal profession, especially those who’ve promoted equality in the civil and criminal justice systems. The number of former prosecutors and corporate attorneys who sit on the bench outnumber former civil rights lawyers and public defenders, creating a system that’s skewed against individuals. This imbalance will last for decades without intervention.

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Eliminate racial and economic bias

To reform our justice system, we must address the structural inequities that allow people with lower incomes to be penalized in ways that wealthy people aren’t. This systematically affects Black communities who continue to be over-policed, surveilled, harshly sentenced, and sent to prison in lieu of access to quality healthcare.

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End mass incarceration

The U.S. has the largest prison population in the world — 1 in 100 citizens is behind bars. When incarceration is used as the primary response to social problems, individuals, families and communities suffer. We need to shift resources from prisons to education and community development, eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent offenses, establish treatment for health issues, and end the death penalty.