JustLeadershipUSA was founded on the principle that the people closest to the problem are the people closest to the solution, but furthest from resources and power. For JLUSA, “the people” are the over 70 million who have been through this country’s criminal legal system. For many decades, the United States has been on an incarceration binge. Motivated by fear, racism, and raw political ambition, localities, states, and the federal government have enacted laws and policies that caused the imprisoned population to balloon—policies like mandatory sentencing laws, three strikes laws, stop and frisk policing, and the abolition of parole.