Resources

Newly obtained Freedom of Information records from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) provide a previously unreported window into ICE’s expansive use of LexisNexis’ Accurint data service. LexisNexis appears to be trying to keep the full extent of its dealings with ICE secret, and in its contract, prohibits government customers from naming LexisNexis or referencing use of LexisNexis in press releases. These newly released documents suggest that LexisNexis is attempting to hide its own complicity in the deportation machine.

Are you a fan of true crime? From podcasts, books, documentaries, and Netflix series, our society is consumed with ‘juicy’ horror stories of crime. Whether it’s a story about serial killers or cold-blooded killings, people are hungry for more. In this episode of Move It Forward, we look at the genre of true crime with guest Chenjerai Kumanyika and explore its history, our fascination with it, and the realities of crime and harm on the streets.

Tune in to learn more about how institutional and systemic violence harms far more people than the sensationalized individual stories of crime and “evil” we are fed. It’s time to shift the way in which the media perpetuates fear, stereotypes, and sensationalized acts of harm and transform it as an advocacy tool to realistically address harm and violence in our communities.

Police have long been the only first responders available to provide timely responses to health and safety issues. Yet, police are inappropriate responders for a substantial portion of 911 calls, tasked with responding to situations that pose no imminent threat or danger to others, such as mental health crises or neighbor disputes. This contributes to overpolicing and police violence. Vera analyzed 911 call data from nine cities to understand what people urgently need from public safety systems and how we can reduce our overreliance on police to meet those needs. These fact sheets include recommendations for policy makers on better practices for 911 protocols, when to employ civilian crisis responders, and how to make sure 911 centers meet community needs.

Police officers often serve as first responders to mental health and substance abuse crises. Concerns over the unintended consequences and high costs associated with this approach have motivated emergency response models that augment or completely remove police involvement. However, there is little causal evidence evaluating these programs. This study presents evidence on the impact of an innovative “community response” pilot in Denver that directed targeted emergency calls to health care responders instead of the police. Evidence shows that the program reduced reports of targeted, less serious crimes (e.g., trespassing, public disorder, and resisting arrest) by 34% and had no detectable effect on more serious crimes. The sharp reduction in targeted crimes reflects the fact that health-focused first responders are less likely to report individuals they serve as criminal offenders and the spillover benefits of the program (e.g., reducing crime during hours when the program was not in operation).

This brief is intended to help organizers working to stop the violence of surveillance, policing and punishment and advance racial, reproductive, gender, LGBTQ, migrant, and disability justice to:

• make links between criminalization of care for trans youth across all of our struggles;
• understand how we can join the fight to challenge criminalization of trans health care;
• be of support to folks seeking and offering gender-affirming care;
• and connect the criminalization of gender-affirming health care to broader calls to defund police, decriminalize, and divest from surveillance, policing and punishment.

This report comes through collaboration between Mijente, Perry Undem, the Community Resource Hub, and the Center for Advancing Innovative Policy. This report is the first national comprehensive study on Latinx attitudes about policing and public safety in the United States and Puerto Rico. We believe in our gente and our communities, that together we can envision and build futures beyond the constraints of punitive measures. That’s why we commissioned a national study and focus groups, to better understand Latinx experiences and develop strategic organizing interventions and resources. The results tell a story that mirrors the Latinx diaspora as a whole: our gente’s political perspectives vary drastically depending on any number of factors. Still, in analyzing thousands of responses across 11 different focus groups, it is clear that our gente believe that making communities safer is about resources, jobs, and education, not more police.

When you think about government surveillance in the United States, you likely think of the National Security Agency or the FBI. You might even think of a powerful police agency, such as the New York Police Department. But unless you or someone you love has been targeted for deportation, you probably don’t immediately think of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This report covers a two-year investigation that reveals that ICE now operates as a domestic surveillance agency. Since its founding in 2003, ICE has not only been building its own capacity to use surveillance to carry out deportations but has also played a key role in the federal government’s larger push to amass as much information as possible about all of our lives. By reaching into the digital records of state and local governments and buying databases with billions of data points from private companies, ICE has created a surveillance infrastructure that enables it to pull detailed dossiers on nearly anyone, seemingly at any time. In its efforts to arrest and deport, ICE has – without any judicial, legislative or public oversight – reached into datasets containing personal information about the vast majority of people living in the U.S., whose records can end up in the hands of immigration enforcement simply because they apply for driver’s licenses; drive on the roads; or sign up with their local utilities to get access to heat, water and electricity.

What is mental health? How can we be more whole and how can we advocate for systems that help all of our community members heal? In this episode, we look at mental health with two practitioners — Iresha Picot and Jacqui Johnson. Listen to their conversation that ranges from trauma to mental health crisis response to hip-hop. Learn about the policy changes that could make city services more just and what we all need to be well.

This document is meant to be a tool for organizers and others looking to better understand—and abolish—the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). It is a companion resource to the piece “Cop City and the Prison Industrial Complex in Atlanta.”

It first offers a compilation of some existing thinking about the PIC—theory and visualizations of the PIC, developed by organizers and thinkers over time. It then uses the recent example of the PIC functioning in Atlanta to offer a window into how we might begin mapping the relationships that make up the PIC locally.