This ACLU research report examines whether circumstances surrounding the public health crisis — unprecedented societal isolation combined with relaxed police department routine enforcement — has led to a change in the frequency with which the police fatally shoot people in the U.S. Analysis reveals that the police have continued to fatally shoot people at the same rate during the first six months of 2020 as they did over the same period from 2015 to 2019. The report also demonstrates that Black, Native American/Indigenous, and Latinx people are still more likely than white people to be shot and killed by police. The report puts forth a set of recommendations designed to reduce police departments’ role, presence, responsibilities, and funding, including dramatically transforming use-of-force laws, and instead reinvest into community-based services that are better suited to respond to actual community needs.

Read the full report here.

This is the first of a series of reports on the performance of face recognition algorithms on faces occluded by protective face masks commonly worn to reduce inhalation of viruses or other contaminants. This report documents accuracy of algorithms to recognize persons wearing face masks.

Read the full report here.

Alex Vitale offers ten ways to make communities safer for everyone. The following concrete steps present a way forward, one that would begin to reduce reliance on policing.

Read the steps here.

The movement to redirect police funding towards social services and community care has ignited calls to re-examine police presence in schools. In the last month alone, several school districts have decided to disband school-based officers while urging their communities to shift funding towards other necessary services. Instead of relying on police to fulfill core educational functions, now is the time for schools to fund mental health professionals, academic support, and other evidence-based programs. Particularly in light of the twin pandemics of coronavirus and engrained structural racism, the scarce funding available should focus on what works best for students.

Read the full report here.

This page is a hub for this year’s session materials, as well as additional resources related to the topic of PIC abolition, organizing, and healing justice.

The Abolitionist Youth Organizing institute (AYO, NYC!)—a collaboration between Project NIA and EFA Project Space—is an immersive training experience for young people in NYC ages 16-24 who are already interested in and/or working towards social justice. The training will introduce participants to the concepts of organizing, campaign development, direct action, mutual aid, creative resistance, prison industrial complex (PIC) abolition and transformative/healing justice. The institute will cover the basics of organizing from an abolitionist framework, with the goal of helping participants find/define & sustain their role within movements for social justice and change. Participants will also focus on the destructive power of violence and learn restorative/transformative practices such as peace circles and de-escalation strategies that interrupt and repair such harms.

Access all session materials here.

The Memorial Day death of George Floyd at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has set off protest around the globe. This four-part community conversation video series attempts to answer the question: Can you reduce funding for police, and limit their role in communities, while ensuring public safety for all communities?

Watch all 4 parts and extra content here.

A collection of resources from STOP NYC to help guide difficult decisions on how to balance the need for both public health and personal privacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes efforts to critically evaluate the efficacy of monitoring and enforcement, and loudly advocating for the preservation of civil liberties.

Browse all the resources and learn more here.

Abolition has been a huge topic in the wake of the uprising sparked by the police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Calls to defund or abolish the police are now experiencing a surge of interest, in the form of street art, protest signs, op eds, and more. In this episode, I’ll be exploring things to consider as you take your first steps toward joining the abolitionist movement, especially in this tumultuous moment of a pandemic and global uprising, in a conversation with Mariame Kaba.

Listen to the full episode below:

Access show notes and a transcript here.