Think Justice Blog

Lesson Plans for Justice Reform: A Call to Action for Students and Teachers

Whether you’re a teacher or student—and whether you’re preparing for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black Lives Matter at School Week (Feb. 3–7, 2020), or Women’s History Month (March), —it’s time to develop a lesson plan on justice reform.

The Arrest-Jail Admission Gap

More than 10 million arrests were made across the United States in 2016. Although the numbers have decreased since 1997, roughly 28,000 arrests still happen every day. This means one arrest every three seconds. Moreover, arrests continue to disproportionately ...

Series: Target 2020

Federal Leadership Needed to Transform Conditions of Confinement

Six hundred thousand—that’s the approximate number of people in the United States who will return to their community from prison every year. Another way to look at it is that 95 percent of those who are currently incarcerated will be released. How then are pri...

Series: Target 2020

The Shocking Lack of Due Process for Immigrants

After Mariana, a mother of three, was detained by ICE, she described the experience as “horrible, so, so stressful. . . . When I was first detained with ICE there were so many thoughts in my mind. . . . I was so, so stressed out . . . because I put my whole li...

A Sentinel Review Process Could Help Washington D.C.

When mistakes happen in the criminal justice system, we often seek to cast blame, quickly, on a single actor. But we can do better, collectively.

Series: Target 2020

Time for a New Federal Commitment on Rural Jail Incarceration

Across America, in rural communities and small cities, jail incarceration is rising at an alarming rate. We are learning more and more about the federal role in local jail growth. Yet this crisis at mass incarceration’s front door—local jails—has failed to cap...

Study Links Solitary Confinement to Increased Risk of Death After Release

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently published a study finding that people placed in restrictive housing (also known as solitary confinement) are more likely than their peers to die or be re-incarcerated in the first year after their...

Series: Target 2020

A Monumental Missed Opportunity for Criminal Justice

In this Democratic primary season, justice reform has been a prominently and refreshingly competitive topic. Conspicuously, during the debate, there was almost zero concrete or illuminating discussion of reforming or transforming the American criminal legal sy...

Anchoring Reform in Community Partnership

Although men of color are disproportionately impacted by the prison system, they’re the least likely to be in leadership positions driving justice reform. As part of Restoring Promise—an initiative to radically transform the living and working conditions insid...

Voters in Battleground States Favor Restoring Pell Grants for People in Prison

For years, Vera and many of our partners from across the corrections, higher education, and criminal justice spectrum have been calling for the reinstatement of Pell Grant eligibility for students in prison.

We Need More Data to Understand the Impact of Mass Incarceration on Latinx Communities

Latinx Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 through October 15, is a time to celebrate the history, achievements, contributions, and heritage of Latinx people in the United States. September 15 is the day when five Latin American countries—Costa Rica,...

Closing Rikers Island

On October 17, the New York City Council will consider a historic vote to approve the construction of four new jails to replace the decrepit, decaying facilities that currently exist in the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. This is a critical step for t...