Vera’s Chief Advocacy Officer, Ellen Flenniken, explains why being serious about public safety requires moving beyond failed “tough-on-crime” policies.

Public safety is rarely measured by crime statistics alone: it is defined by how people actually feel about their communities and the country as a whole. To address public concerns effectively, we must first understand how perceptions—and misperceptions—of crime are formed. Vera’s Chief Advocacy Officer Ellen Flenniken and Senior Writer Alex Pareen ...

Thirty-one people have died in county jails so far this year.

How are people dying?It typically takes months for Los Angeles County to publicly issue causes of death for people who have died in LA County jails. And 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. Researchers h ...

“May her memory be a blessing.” This is the phrase that many Jewish people pass on to share in times of mourning, and maybe the most graceful in a circumstance where language often becomes clumsy. It is particularly apt in talking about Susan Rai, a Vera legend who had a profound relationship with the organization’s memory and who is inextricably w ...