The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

We are excited to launch several exciting new initiatives designed for PACEs Connection’s trauma-informed criminal justice communities this fall. You talked, and we listened! Using the excellent feedback we have received from those of you who have participated in our trauma-informed criminal justice CRC, GRC, and SRC events this year, beginning in September we will offer more opportunities for connection and dialogue for individuals and communities interested in this specific realm of...

By Michael Martin, Photo: Unsplash in site, National Public Radio, August 20, 2022 NPR's Michel Martin speaks with The Sentencing Project's Senior Director of Advocacy Nicole D. Porter about her new study on states repurposing closed correctional facilities. MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Defund the police - that phrase has become a rallying cry for some and a political hammer to swing at opponents for others, depending, of course, on your view of the movement to move resources away from traditional...

Plan now to join us for the Global Resiliency Accelerator on Tuesday, August 9, 2022, from 12-2 p.m. EST. This event will be focused trauma informed work in the justice field both in the US and UK. Becky will be sharing on her Trauma Informed Policing training which she's used to train numerous police departments on as well as published an article about it in the October 2021, International Association of Chiefs of Police Magazine. She will provide examples of Trauma Informed Policing and...

When we feel more connected, we're kinder and care more for others. After 21 years of being incarcerated, our guest Simon Liu, of Bay Area Freedom Collective, tries a practice that helps him remember the profound connections he's made throughout his life. Click HERE to listen to the Podcast.

SACRAMENTO, Calif — The California Senate on Thursday rejected a proposal to ban involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime after Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration warned it could cost taxpayers billions of dollars by forcing the state to pay inmates who work while in prison a $15-per-hour minimum wage. California's constitution bans both slavery and involuntary servitude — forcing someone to provide labor against their will — but there is an exception for the punishment of a crime.

From Legal Defense Fund, Photo: Unsplash, Legal Defense Fund, July 15, 2022 Yesterday, the Southern Prisons Coalition, a group of civil and human rights organizations, submitted a new report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination on the devastating consequences of incarceration on Black people throughout the southern United States. With the long-term goal of eliminating all forms of racial discrimination in the criminal legal system,...

Image: (Photo by ChrisAnna Mink) That same morning Maria was shot, I heard Father Greg Boyle tell a group of reporters that gang violence is “really a public health issue,” and society needs to use the right words for the problems to find solutions. He was talking to a group of journalists with USC Center for Health Journalism National Fellowship on a sunny morning in the bustling, noisy courtyard of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles. Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries , a gang...

Announcing upcoming courses for educators! Join Trauma-informed Education or Supporting Marginalized Students this summer!

Photo: ( Sandy Huffaker/inewsource) © Provided by Times of San Diego The Times of San Diego article, Opinion: Mass Incarceration Must End: Closing Private Prisons is a Good Start Last year, President Joe Biden acknowledged what had been evident for years: Our nation’s reliance on mass incarceration “imposes significant costs and hardships on our society and communities and does not make us safer,” according to the president’s Executive Order 14006 signed just days after he took office. In...

John Legend is an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award-winning entertainer, who recently kicked off a Las Vegas residency and just released a new single. But he's also a well-known activist and advocate for criminal justice reform and voting rights who has supported a number of Democratic candidates over the years. He's also throwing his support behind a number of progressive prosecutors who are running on a promise to reform a criminal justice system that they say is outdated and that...

The first time Teeanna Brisco saw her father after he was released from prison was just before her law school graduation, when she picked him up from the airport. Bernard Brisco had been imprisoned for 20 years for non-violent drug crimes, sentenced in 2001 for selling cocaine. His daughter was just four years old. Mr Brisco, now 53, was given the lengthy sentence because of the so-called "three-strikes" sentencing law. Under the policy, which was implemented in the US in 1994, judges had to...