Resources

This report briefly contextualizes the issue of decriminalizing sex work, discusses how this is a part of effective anti-trafficking policy, and presents a local and state-based platform for decriminalization. Decriminalization includes amending penal codes and divesting from the criminal legal system (both police and prosecutors). Decriminalization is the first step toward expanding labor protections and funding services that address the needs of people in the sex trades.

This preliminary report summarizes what the Policing in Chicago Research Group has been able to discover, as well as what has yet to be learned, about Chicago’s gang database. Through a combination of in-depth interviews, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and archival research, the Research Group sought to learn about impacts of the gang database and understand relationships between law enforcement agencies involved in tracking gang affiliation (e.g., the Chicago Police Department, the FBI, ICE, Illinois State Police, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, etc.).

In response to community demands for public accountability and for a responsible process of abolition that provides restitution to people harmed by the database, the Policing in Chicago Research Group at the University of Illinois at Chicago carried out an evaluation of the Regional Gang Intelligence Database (RGID). This report outlines what is known about RGID and the questions that remain.

This memo provides a review of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s (CCSO) Regional Gang Intelligence Database (RGID), which was decommissioned on January 15, 2019. It highlights CCSO policies and procedures for the gang database as well as its data-sharing agreements.

This video short shows the process of “critical mapping” used to represent the cumulative and uneven impact of hot spot policing across New York City – every NYPD police stop, every hour, for the entire year of 2011. The process is called “critical mapping” because researchers use maps to interrogate and speak back to the “official” maps that label neighborhoods a “hot spot” of crime.

This report provides a brief overview of what Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) is and what assumptions drive CVE programs. Given the illusive nature of CVE (and the ways that practitioners intentionally distance themselves from critiques of CVE), it also describes local CVE programs currently underway in Illinois and identifies the key players advancing this anti-terrorism project. Because CVE programs often are rebranded under different names and funding sources, this report also details ways to identify CVE. Lastly, this report shares the experiences of community partners across the country to illustrate the nature and impact of CVE, and how people have been exposing and resisting CVE.

This zine is a primer on what Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programs are, what they look like, their dangers, and how to combat them in your community.

This blueprint, developed by TJC’s attorneys and criminal justice policy experts, outlines concrete steps to address the country’s mass incarceration crisis and provides actionable solutions to creating a fairer and more equitable justice system.

Campaign Zero evaluated the policing practices of San Diego Police Department (SDPD) and San Diego Sheriff’s Department (SDSD). Results show both departments to be engaged in a pattern of discriminatory policing.