
Akua
Amaning
Director, Criminal Justice Reform
We focus on developing policies to shrink the justice system’s footprint, improve public health and safety, and promote equity and accountability.
Our work is centered around developing and supporting policies that will end unjust punishments and reduce the social and economic harms of mass incarceration, which have disproportionately devastated Black people and other communities of color.
We are working to advance measures that will increase police transparency and accountability, overhaul harmful police practices, and prioritize community-based solutions to public safety.
We are working to drastically reduce the criminalization of drugs in America while restoring communities that have been most affected by harsh drug enforcement measures.
We advocate for policy options that remove obstacles and barriers for people affected by the criminal justice system while simultaneously highlighting the leadership of affected people in the reform movement.
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The Criminal Justice Reform team collaborates with a number of justice reform partners at the national, state, and local levels to help build a more progressive justice system.
The Justice Roundtable is a broad-based coalition of more than 100 organizations working to reform federal criminal justice laws and policies.
Justice Roundtable
The Clean Slate Initiative is a national bipartisan coalition advancing policies to automatically clear all eligible criminal records across the United States and help state partners provide people with a fresh start.
Clean Slate Initiative
The Marijuana Justice Coalition is a broad coalition of national advocacy organizations, convened by the Drug Policy Alliance, who have joined forces to advocate for federal marijuana reform through a racial and economic justice lens.
Drug Policy Alliance - Marijuana Justice Coalition
The Biden administration should improve policies around admissions, financial aid, and housing to ensure that people with criminal records have fair opportunities to pursue a college education.
Policymakers must take long-overdue action to undo intentionally harmful housing policies that discriminate against people with criminal records and perpetuate racial discrimination.
Justice reform measures can help ensure that women with a criminal record are given a fair chance at quality job opportunities, and these reforms are needed now more than ever in light of the pandemic’s devastating impact on women.
While more must be done to shrink the footprint of the U.S. criminal justice system, the national dialogue around reform during summer 2020 has inspired transformative ideas and tangible policies that can be built on moving forward.
Civilian first responders are good for the public—and for the police.
Americans’ civil liberties are in danger if Congress does not ensure that ordinary people can hold state and federal officials accountable for wrongdoing.
The Biden administration can create a foundation for criminal justice reform efforts through additional executive actions.
The Biden administration can immediately act to begin renewing the federal government’s work to reform civil and criminal justice systems.
Progressive criminal justice policies fared well at the ballot box, with voters across the country approving critical reforms.
Policymakers may have concerns that comprehensive police reform would increase violent crime, but evidence from 10 jurisdictions runs counter to such a relationship.