What should justice look like in New Orleans for the next three hundred years?
The criminal justice system in New Orleans absorbs the lion’s share of the city’s operating budget. With new and renewed leadership in this important year in our city’s history, it is time to dig deep into what it means to build a system that delivers on the promise of fairness, justice, and safety for all New Orleaninans.
At the tricentennial we are asking: How will our city envision criminal justice reform in this historic moment? In these short videos, New Orleans community leaders discuss key findings from Vera’s research and share their visions for the future.
Examining the Costs and Consequences of Charging for Justice in New Orleans
In 2015, government agencies in New Orleans collected $4.5 million in the form of bail, fines and fees from people involved in the criminal justice system and, by extension, from their families. Another $4.7 million was transferred from the pockets of residents to for-profit bail bond agents. These costs have become the subject of considerable publ ...
It can take an incarcerated person weeks of strenuous work to afford even just a stick of deodorant.
You would think that being “property of a state,” where work detail and programs are required, one would be provided with the bare necessities. But upon entry into prison, we are provided with minimal toiletries, like soap, deodorant, and lotion. These items may last during our two-week stay in intake, but once they are gone, we’re on our own. Aft ...
40 people have died in county jails so far this year, surpassing the rate of the deadliest year on record.
How are people dying? Los Angeles County has not yet publicly issued causes of death for everyone who has died in county jails in recent months. And even once even once autopsy reports are finalized, they don’t tell the whole story. When the coroner rules that a death is the result of “natural causes,” jail conditions can still be to blame. Researc ...