Criminal Justice Responses to the Coronavirus Pandemic
America has become a global epicenter in the COVID-19 pandemic, and some of the country’s most vulnerable people are in jails, prisons, and detention centers—places where they are at extreme risk of infection and have no ability to protect themselves. This moment highlights the vital need to shift away from punitive practices that funnel people int ...
People trapped in the criminal justice system are typically poor and struggling to provide basic necessities for themselves and their families. Yet an arrest can lead to many and varied fines, fees, and court costs resulting in a bill of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Vera’s Justice Fines and Fees Project will explore just how much fine and ...
An Initiative to Disrupt the American Prison System
Restoring Promise, an initiative of the Vera Institute of Justice and MILPA, works with prisons and jails to address the root causes and consequences of mass incarceration in how it manifests in prisons and jails. We work directly with prisons and jails to transform the culture, climate, rhythms and routines that define the prison system, starting ...
Illuminating Trans Lives Behind and Beyond Bars
While transgender and gender non conforming (TGNC) people are extremely vulnerable to heightened policing, surveillance, and targeted victimization by the state, there is little research on the experiences of incarcerated TGNC people, and almost no policy explicitly protecting them. Upon release from prison, transgender individuals often find thems ...
Vera’s Center on Victimization and Safety is working to increase the number of victims who receive the support they need to help them heal by convening the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims. The Resource Center’s vision is that victim services will be accessible, culturally relevant, and trauma informed—and that the overwhelming majorit ...
An International Cross-Site Evaluation of Two Police Departments
Recent attempts at police reform have embraced theories of procedural or organizational justice. Organizational justice is the notion that how employees view their employers—as well as employees’ positions in the organization—will affect the way people behave in work-related contexts. In this way, if police employees view their organization as trea ...
A primary goal of the bail reform movement is to eliminate money bail—a practice that is fundamentally unfair and disproportionately burdens people of color and those with low incomes. But before this goal is reached—and while the vast majority of courts across the country still use money bail—what can be done to mitigate the harm it causes? In ...
Since 2017, the Vera Institute of Justice has documented a surprising and dramatic shift in the geography of mass incarceration: while big cities and urban areas have started to curb the number of people entering their local jails, rural counties and small cities are experiencing a staggering rise in their jail populations. Although research on the ...
Embracing human dignity; Correcting racial injustice; Reimagining prosecution
As the gatekeepers of the justice system, prosecutors wield a tremendous amount of power and are uniquely situated to stem the tide of mass incarceration and to ensure justice and fairness. While a wave of reform-minded district attorneys across the country are bringing increased awareness on both the need and potential for reform, true progress ca ...
From Isolation to Dignity and Wellness Behind Bars
Vera is working to end the use of restrictive housing (also called solitary confinement or segregation) by partnering with states and local corrections agencies to implement safe and effective alternative strategies. Increasing evidence shows that restrictive housing—where people are held in a cell for 22-24 hours per day—is harmful to incarcerated ...
American policing is experiencing a crisis of confidence, in part due to lacking and disparate professional policing standards. It is essential that criteria used to recruit and retain police officials consider the values and priorities of the communities these individuals serve. To bride this gap, Vera partnered with the International City/County ...
A 911 Data Analysis
Police officers dedicate most of their time to responding to 911 calls. Contrary to what many may believe, however, the majority of these calls are unrelated to crimes in progress, and officers need a wide range of resources—including clearly communicated and detailed upfront information, as well as training on alternatives to traditional enforceme ...
Are you an immigrant parent who has been separated from your child(ren) and is trying to reconnect? Are you a legal services provider who knows a parent looking for their child? The Immigrant Connection Project (ICON) can help. Attorneys or parents seeking children should: Email familyconnect@vera.org or familiasunidas@vera.org.Call 800-845-8372 ...
Alternatives to Police-Based Approaches
Police are ill-equipped to safely and effectively serve people in behavioral health crisis. Even when officers receive training in crisis intervention and de-escalation, the mere presence of armed, uniformed police whose core function is criminal enforcement can exacerbate distress and escalate mental health-related situations. This threat is compo ...