Resources

Over the course of 2019, Local Progress engaged local elected officials and community leaders in a range of communities to evaluate their localities’ policing practices using the Reform/Transform toolkit. Those evaluations have produced the first results of the Reform/Transform toolkit in 12 cities: Chicago, Dallas, Durham, Louisville, Madison, Minneapolis, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.

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.

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.

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.

This document highlights important recommendations and examples and is based on the experiences of law enforcement officers who have benefited from the “harm reduction” approach. It is important to note that there is no “one size fits all” solution. Changes to law are of course a major factor in changing law enforcement practice with regard to drugs. But even without legislative changes, there are a number of tactics and strategies that law enforcement departments and officers can more readily apply and implement directly themselves.

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.

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.