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 ...

Through research, mentorship, and hands-on learning, Vera’s Justice Scholars are exploring the criminal justice system—and discovering their own power to change it.

The U.S. criminal justice system is vast and opaque; imagining new ways of doing things­—and knowing where to start­—can be a daunting task. The Vera Institute of Justice (Vera)’s Justice Scholars program is a paid summer internship for rising high school juniors and seniors interested in the history of policing, prosecution, and corrections. But t ...