Resources

This is a new initiative launched in fall 2018 through the Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW) Social Justice Institute by Researchers-in-Residence Andrea J. Ritchie and Mariame Kaba. The project aims to interrupt and end the the growing criminalization and incarceration of women and LGBTQ people of color for criminalized acts related to public order, poverty, child welfare, drug use, survival and self-defense, including criminalization and incarceration of survivors of violence.

The compilation of this report includes interviews with people in affected communities and family members as well as survey responses from defense attorneys and insights from advocates. This is not intended to be a quantitative research report. The report is intended to highlight what we know, currently, about gang policing practices in New York City. This report is limited to policing and, to a lesser extent, prosecution strategies. This report also is limited in its analysis on gangs or gang culture. The expert voices on gangs are those who have lived that reality. We hope this report spurs further research, education and advocacy.

Although members of law enforcement do not serve as treatment providers for any other illness, they have become “road runners,” responding to mental health emergencies and traveling long distances to shuttle people with mental illness from one facility to another. This report is the first-ever national survey of sheriffs’ offices and police departments on these issues, and it provides a unique glimpse into the burdens they must shoulder as well as the fiscal and societal implications of the current situation. The survey responses represent 355 sheriffs’ offices and police departments in the United States.

Despite the dearth of official data, there is abundant evidence individuals with mental illness make up a disproportionate number of those killed at the very first step of the criminal justice process: while being approached or stopped by a law enforcement officer in the community. This 2015 report surveys the status of law enforcement homicide reporting, examines the demonstrable role of mental illness in the use of deadly force by law enforcement and recommends practical approaches to reducing fatal police shootings and the many social costs associated with them.

Over reliance on the criminal justice system only inflicts more harm on people who need help while burdening taxpayers with an expensive and ineffective system. That’s why cities across the nation have begun to rely on pre-arrest diversion and crisis response strategies that direct people away from the criminal justice system and toward treatment, housing, and other services. Unfortunately, legislative barriers often exist at a state level that prevent local governments from maximizing the benefits of this approach.

This report comprehensively documents how US-Israel law enforcement trainings solidify partnerships between the U.S. and Israeli governments to exchange methods of state violence and control, including mass surveillance, racial profiling, and suppression of protest and dissent. Produced by Researching the American Israeli Alliance (RAIA) in partnership with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), the report is the result of dozens of FOIAs yielding hundreds of documents, exclusive interviews with American and Israeli personnel, and exhaustive academic and media research in English, Arabic and Hebrew. Accompanying the report, RAIA released the Palestine is Here Database, a search engine mapping Israeli trainings of US law enforcement across American cities and towns.

Adam polices the truth behind the overuse of SWAT Teams, illustrates how using school officers can create a pipeline for prisons, and examines the origins and intended purpose of police officers.

This report examines how racism and anti-LGBT discrimination combine to make LGBT people of color uniquely vulnerable to entering the criminal justice system and also facing unfair and abusive treatment once they are in it.

The Lucy Parsons Labs has launched OpenOversight, an interactive web tool that makes it easier for Chicago residents to file complaints against police officers. Using OpenOversight, members of the public can search for the names and badge numbers of those officers with whom they have negative interactions based on estimated age, race, and gender. Using this information, the OpenOversight web application returns a digital gallery of potential matches and, when possible, includes pictures of officers in uniform to assist in identification.