Criminal Justice
The War on Drugs Is a War on People Like Me
The War on Drugs has been with us for more than fifty years, and hasn’t been a war on drugs at all. It’s been a war on people: people like me, and my family. Black people. The part where it was supposed to decrease drug use? That part failed. I live in Prince George’s...
Vermont Wants to Heal the Overdose Crisis, Do You?
On June 1, Vermont became the first state in the nation to remove criminal penalties for possession of “therapeutic amounts” of buprenorphine. This amounts to a one- to two-week supply of this lifesaving treatment for people who suffer from Opioid Use Disorder....
Our Next Attorney General Must Boldly Set a Course Toward Justice
Black People Showed Up for Biden; Now We Need an Attorney General Who Will Show Up for Us President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris have both struggled to answer for their histories of promoting “tough-on-crime” policies which have harmed Black...
Caged Indefinitely During COVID-19
Photo credit: Monroe County Sheriff / Twitter / cc In May, Citizen Action of New York, part of the People's Action national network of grassroots groups, learned of a man being held in indefinite detention because of COVID-19. We asked him if he would be willing to...
Policing Is Not A Public Good
Photo credit: Sgt. Joe Davis, Utah National Guard / cc For decades, we’ve been told that policing is a public good: available to all, for the benefit of all. But in practice, that’s never been true. One of the basic measures of a “public good” is that it’s accessible...
How Immunity for Cops and Facebook Kills Americans
When you tell people they won’t be held accountable for their actions, it almost always ends badly. That’s what’s happened with our police and our social media, two institutional pillars of personal and political society in America today. Removing those dual...
You Are Free To Vote, Even Behind Bars
I visited Birmingham County Jail this week to deliver a simple message: you are free to vote, even if you don’t know it. And now is the time for you to claim and exercise this right. I was joined by allies from the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, prominent...
Our Fight For Freedom Is Far From Over
New York’s City Council has voted to allow the construction of four new jails as part of a plan to close Rikers Island, where thousands of New Yorkers are jailed. The vast majority are there without convictions because they can’t afford bail, or locked up when their...
Why Justice for Botham Jean Is Impossible
Photo credit: KENS-TV screenshot / YouTube I’ve been thinking about this Amber Guyger verdict, and seeing different perspectives on the timeline. Lately, I’ve been seeking to understand more about what some call an abolitionist framework around the criminal legal...
There’s No Turning Back New York’s Wave Of Justice
A blue wave surged across New York State last November, as voters went to the ballot box to demand true progressives represent them in Albany. This unprecedented voter turnout helped create an undeniable Democratic majority in our state legislature for the first time...
