Stories

Advancing Justice attendees departed New Orleans today after a generative summit that has identified opportunities for reform, highlighted gaps in research that deserve support, and helped form new alliances and strengthen existing coalitions for criminal justice and policing reform. A prominent message during plenary panels yesterday evening and this morning was how different media can […]

During this panel, three filmmakers discussed the role of culture and narrative in shaping views and influencing criminal justice reform. Scott Budnick, who produced The Hangover series before founding the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, argued that films can influence public opinion as well as public policy by deliberately crafting a story and characters that are sympathetic. He explained that […]

This panel focused on the messaging and issue choices necessary for achieving meaningful criminal justice reform in 2016. Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, began by explaining that though conservatives have supported “tough on crime” policies in the past, they are now realizing that skepticism of government’s ability to solve problems should extend to […]

Policing in the United States has grown and changed over hundreds of years. Here’s why the militarization of police doesn’t necessarily keep us safer.

Civil asset forfeiture is a practice that allows law enforcement to seize property and take possession of it based merely on the belief that the property may have been involved in a crime.

During this panel, three journalists who focus on justice reform issues explained the role that the press can take to spur reform and the challenges they currently face. For Conor Friedersdorf, staff writer at The Atlantic, a large challenge for the press is that its “watchdog” function is not robust when it comes to criminal […]

This session explored how the faith community has made a difference in criminal justice and policing reform, but also pointed out how it could do better to affect change. Allison DeFoor, canon to the ordinary in the Episcopal Diocese of Florida, was unequivocal in his disapproval of the current criminal justice system: “This system is wrong. […]

Delaware is among the states that have confronted issues with their criminal justice system in recent years. As he entered office in 2009, Governor Jack Markell faced the problem of serious prison overcrowding in the state, but he did not think that constructing more prisons was the answer. In response to this issue and others, Markell […]

This panel discussed how advocates with diverse perspectives and experiences can create more concerted efforts for reform. Ana Yáñez-Correa, executive director of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, began by explaining the importance of selecting allies strategically and referenced her work with the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Mark Levin. For Yáñez-Correa, forming an eventual partnership is first about […]

Moderator Phyllis Mann, senior program associate at the Sixth Amendment Center, began the conversation on “Gideon’s Legacy” by noting that the promise of Gideon v. Wainwright—that a person would never go to jail without the assistance of counsel—is unfulfilled almost 50 years later. She then asked the panelists to describe how the public defense system […]