A combined vision for racial justice in New York

We need to end mass incarceration and criminalization, fundamentally transform the justice system and repair the harm done to our communities by investing in schools, not jails.

Schools, Not Jails!

Too often Black, Brown and low-income students attend schools that are underfunded, under-resourced and over policed.

Investments in policing and metal detectors divert critical education funding. We need a complete realignment of funding and policy priorities for school districts that includes a divestment of resources from the criminalization infrastructure — especially in schools in Black and Brown communities —and an investment in teaching, counseling and student support services. We need more staff able to identify the root causes of adverse childhood experiences, and to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline and school-to-deportation pipeline.

We need to equip our schools to meet the social, emotional, and mental health needs of students – guidance counselors, social workers, school psychologists, restorative justice coordinators, and school staff trained in trauma informed care.

Transform the Justice System!

If New York were a country, it would have the SIXTH highest incarceration rate in the WORLD. The crisis of mass incarceration and criminalization has devastated our families, friends and communities.

District Attorneys are a driving force in the cycle that keeps this crisis alive. They have almost unchecked power to decide who gets charged, what crimes they get charged with, whether they are released or jailed before trial, what case evidence gets shared, what the plea offer will be, and whether a person gets sentenced to years, decades or even life in prison. We MUST break this cycle.

We need District Attorneys who are committed to community, not conviction rates – who will address root-causes of harm, not just put people behind bars. We need DAs committed to ending mass incarceration and transforming justice. They can start by immediately implementing the newly passed bail and discovery laws.

District Attorneys answer to almost no one – except to us – their constituents. And that is why we are building power to #DemandJustice. Join us.

Read and share the new #DemandJustice Toolkit

Here’s what you can do right now: Download and use Citizen Action’s #DemandJustice Toolkit to learn how you can take action to ensure our District Attorneys fully implement the new pretrial laws that were passed this year to keep thousands of legally innocent New Yorkers out of jail while they await trial.