Reimagine Justice & Safety
Advancing justice and safety for low-income communities of color.
Reimagine Justice & Safety
The criminal legal system was borne out of America’s racist founding and continues to devastate communities of color. Data show that Californians of color are disproportionately policed, arrested, incarcerated, and subjected to harsher sentences than Whites. At the same time, rates of violence are disproportionately higher in low-income communities of color—despite decades of landmark investments in law enforcement and incarceration. These deep-seated harms have eroded public trust in our system of safety.
WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS
Decades of “tough-on-crime” policies have devastated communities of color and failed to advance true safety. As a result, Californians of color – especially Black people – routinely experience dehumanization, physical harm, mental and emotional trauma, and entrenched poverty. Rather than responding to every quality-of-life issue through police and punishment, we must recast our approach to safety by reducing the criminal legal system’s scope and creating a comprehensive ecosystem of community care and empowerment that drives wellbeing.
IMPACT OF OUR WORK
Our Reimagine Justice & Safety program works in partnership with community-based organizations to greatly reduce the criminal legal system’s scope and build an ecosystem of care-centered safety solutions. Our innovative report in collaboration with the PUSH LA coalition, Reimagining Traffic Safety & Bold Political Leadership in Los Angeles, serves as a prime example of our rigorous public policy research and data analysis in furtherance of systemic reforms that reduce law enforcement racial biases and make communities safer. Along the same line, in partnership with Catalyst California’s Equity in Community Investments program, and the Alliance for Community Transit – Los Angeles, we successfully advocated for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Board of Transportation to create a $122 million Transit Ambassador program that decreases reliance on law enforcement agencies to advance community safety.
DESIRED OUTCOMES
- A comprehensive ecosystem of community care and empowerment that drives true safety and prevents engagement with the criminal legal system.
- Shrinking the criminal legal system’s scope.
- The elimination of the criminal legal system’s racially and economically inequitable outcomes.
- Safe neighborhoods for all Californians.