Resources

A brief that addresses the question: what happens after we defund police? The brief puts forth a framework for the key elements required for sustainable and meaningful change in jurisdictions that are investing in non-law enforcement responses. It also uplifts 13 different strategies and approaches that can be used as alternatives to law enforcement. In surveying the landscape of such alternatives, CJP identified numerous programs and efforts that are currently in operation and reflect a spirit of innovation, are community-led, and work to address the root causes of conflict, harm, and violence. This brief touches just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to these types of solutions.

Explore snapshots of community-based safety strategies that expand our ideas about what keeps us safe. One Million Experiments is a place to browse community-based safety projects for inspiration, a newsletter featuring zines that highlight the nuts and bolts of particular projects, and an opportunity to share your projects. Tag projects using #1MExperiments.

This toolkit is an introduction to AJC’s vision and strategy for social change. From grassroots organizing to legislative policy work, here is a snapshot of how we take on the big problems.

This 2015 report details the effects of criminalization on the homeless residents of San Francisco. Since 1981, San Francisco has passed more local measures to criminalize sleeping, sitting, or panhandling in public spaces than any other city in the state of California. During this same period, the United States has experienced the greatest expansion of its jail and prison system under any democracy in history. This expansion has primarily affected the poorest members of this society. This report documents and analyzes the impacts of the rising tide of anti-homeless laws in our era of mass incarceration on those experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

A collection of disability justice webinars that intersect with abolition, incarceration, policing, and more. This list includes notes on accessibility (e.g., ASL, captioning, passwords, etc.).

This project asks what kind of City would be possible if unhoused neighbors were treated as worthy of life and dignity rather than as a nuisance or a threat, and if trauma-informed, unarmed civilians had been called to help rather than control. Many of us who have worked on this effort have personally witnessed and experienced the cruelty of the current system. Whether that be the tears of losing one’s property, the trauma of displacement to nowhere, or the loss of life-saving medications, these practices have led to deaths on the streets from despair, and disconnection from key medical and housing services. Compassionate Alternative Response Team (CART) imagines that it would be a safer, healthier, and more vital city for the Black and Brown people who live and spend time here, and ultimately for everyone.

Everyone loses when we criminalize a person with a mental illness. People with mental illnesses experience trauma and mental health treatment is rarely adequate in jail or prison. In addition, they find it more difficult to get a job and find housing when they have a criminal record. Families suffer when their loved ones are imprisoned. Law enforcement resources are diverted when people with mental illnesses are arrested and tax dollars are misspent. Ultimately, the Bazelon Center aims to end incarceration of individuals with mental illness by diverting them away from jails and into community-based programs.

STAR is a community response program made possible through collaboration between the Caring for Denver Foundation, Denver Police Department, Mental Health Center of Denver (MHCD), Denver Health Paramedic Division, Denver 911, and community supports and resources. STAR provides person-centric mobile crisis response to community members who are experiencing problems related to mental health, depression, poverty, homelessness, and/or substance abuse issues. STAR created a path into the service connection system, directing certain calls to more appropriate support providers while redirecting them away from a costly emergency department visit or introducing the possibility of jail.

Understanding violence through a public health lens addresses the crime as well as the environment in which the crime took place. This is done by taking into account the risk and protective factors that surround a person, their community and the community in which they live. Reimagining public safety means identifying community-led and/or supported solutions and strategies that stop the bleeding today and investing in the dismantlement of the systems of inequity.