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.

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.

This literature review examines research exploring the interactions between transgender people and law enforcement and criminal justice (LECJ) personnel in the U.S. to better understand the experiences of transgender people who come into contact with the criminal justice system.

After a decade of organizing, three Safe OUTside the System (SOS) Coordinators co-wrote this piece to share the lessons learned over the years. We also asked SOS members from the past 10 years about their reflections on our successes, struggles and our hopes for the future. We write these lessons for all the people seeking to address violence and envision safer communities.

Your neighbor is setting off fireworks at 3am, or there’s intimate partner violence happening outside your window, or you see someone hit their child in public…What do you do? What do you do instead of calling the police? How do you keep yourself safe without seeking protection from a system that is predicated upon the surveillance and extermination of others? This is an in-progress list of resources on alternatives to policing, which range from the theoretical to the practical.

A report that surveyed 12 local community organizations in Portland, Oregon about the harms of policing and their visions for building real community care and resources.

A toolkit from the Safe Outside the System (SOS) program with a collection of strategies to build safety in party spaces without relying on the police or state systems. The Safe Party Toolkit can support you, partygoers, and throwers in: creating a space in which partygoers self determination and safety are prioritized, preventing and intervening in violence before it escalates, making a community atmosphere where violence isn’t acceptable, encouraging others to intervene/prevent violence from happening, and supporting survivors of violence.

BreakOUT! created this 2014 report in an effort to educate other young people, educate decision-makers in New Orleans, maintain pressure on the city to implement policing reforms, measure the effectiveness of ongoing policing reforms, and document stories and strategies of BreakOUT! organizers. This report also shows how criminalization encompasses more than just policing and highlights the work of BreakOUT! to “starve” the system by preventing arrests and incarceration.

This is a searchable database gathering past and current incidents of police violence against women of color, including both trans and non-trans women of color.