Resources

In March 2017, the New York City Council introduced a bill to increase transparency and oversight over the NYPD’s use of sophisticated new surveillance technologies and information sharing networks. Dubbed the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act, the legislation requires the NYPD to disclose basic information about the surveillance tools it uses and the safeguards in place to protect the privacy and civil liberties of New Yorkers. This collection of resources is intended to provide journalists, policy-makers, and the public information about the POST Act.

A collection of written and audio resources around various topics related to policing, prisons, and criminal justice reform and abolition. Author’s note: In general, I’ve tried to list shorter pieces, articles, and listening/viewing material. Though the sources are organized thematically, there is no issue in the carceral state that doesn’t intersect with another; therefore, most of the categories are necessarily false divides used for purposes of organization. In places where I’ve listed books, I include a link to the book or to an interview with the author.

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.

The People’s Audit (2013) is intended to present the limited information that is available to date, highlight the lack of information available to the public, and reflect LA residents’ viewpoints on these unjust policies that are broadly enforced under the pretext of national security. The Los Angeles Police Department’s Special Order 1 (SO 1), as well as the iWATCH program and Intelligence Gathering Guidelines, criminalize innocent behavior, break down trust, provoke violence, and plant informants in response to anonymous tips.

This episode is the first in a series of conversations about #metoo and the apocalypse of patriarchy and rape culture. In this first conversation, Adrienne and Autumn share about the personal impact of the #metoo movement on our lives and the questions it is spurring in us. Content warning that this episode includes discussion of sexual violence.

Today the Brown sisters talk with transformative justice practitioner Mariame Kaba (@prisonculture) and get our minds blown with frameworks and breakthroughs on how to really address harm and grow beyond it.

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.

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.

In this episode, Maya Schenwar joins us to talk about abolition today: the abolition of incarceration. She doesn’t just spout statistics; she asks good hard questions about the system as it as: is this really what we want? Is there a better way? We cannot ask The Next Question about justice without asking the next question about CRIMINAL justice. Austin, Chi Chi, Jenny and Maya do just that on this week’s episode.