Justice Reform

What do you do when divine law and the justice demanded by your conscience clash? Muslims have wrestled with this problem since the earliest caliphates. The mazalim courts, dating back to the eighth century, were the answer: courts where any subject could appeal directly to an Islamic ruler...

James Comey, former FBI Director and New York Times bestselling author of A Higher Loyalty, uses his long career in federal law enforcement to explore issues of justice and fairness in the US justice system. James Comey might best be known as the FBI director that Donald Trump fired in 2017, but...

An eye-opening exploration of American policy reform, or lack thereof, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement and how the country can do better in the future from Fredrik deBoer, “one of the sharpest and funniest writers on the internet” (The New York...

From Pulitzer Prize–winning author Gilbert King comes a chilling exploration of one of America’s most haunting wrongful conviction cases. Based on the hit podcast, Bone Valley dives into the dark heart of rural Florida, where a young man’s life was upended by a tragic miscarriage of...

In Get Off My Neck, Debbie Hines draws on her unique perspective as a trial lawyer, former Baltimore prosecutor, and assistant attorney general for the State of Maryland to argue that US prosecutors, as the most powerful players in the criminal justice system, systematically target and criminalize Black people. Hines describes her disillusionment as a young Black woman who initially entered the profession with the goal of helping victims of crimes, only to discover herself aiding and abetting a system that prizes plea bargaining, speedy conviction, and excessive punishment above all else.

How states are making their legal systems more equitable, seen through the story of a Black man falsely imprisoned for thirty years for murder. In 1987, Ben Spencer, a twenty-two-year-old Black man from Dallas, was convicted of murdering white businessman Jeffrey Young—a crime he didn’t...

An acclaimed legal scholar exposes the Supreme Court’s increasing use of unsigned, unexplained orders to change the law—all behind closed doors The Supreme Court has always had the authority to issue emergency rulings in exceptional circumstances. But since 2017, the Court has dramatically...

Sentenced to Life is the riveting story of Curtis Roberts, who served twenty-nine years in prison for three unarmed robberies totaling $116. But God set Curtis free long before his eventual release from San Quentin. His journey is one of faith, redemption, and unexpected grace. In 1995, high on drugs and low on cash, Curtis Roberts walked into a liquor store, spied two twenties lying on top of an open register, and pocketed the bills. He’d just committed his third strike. The judge sentenced him to fifty years to life. Curtis became number E-25212, a lifer in California’s Department of ...

Unlock Your Second Chance with "Your Guide to a Fresh Start: Simplifying the Pardon Process" Are you ready to reclaim your rights and leave your past behind? This comprehensive guide, created by criminal justice reform pioneer Angela Stanton King, is your roadmap to navigating the often overwhelming pardon application process. Angela's personal journey of overcoming over 30 state and federal charges and receiving both a Presidential Federal Pardon and a Georgia State Pardon has inspired this step-by-step resource. Drawing from her own experience and expertise, she shares valuable insights ...

Named a Best Book of 2021 by NPR This inspirational memoir serves as a call to action from prison reform activist Yusef Salaam, of the Exonerated Five, to turn our stories into tools for change in the pursuit of racial justice. They didn't know who they had. So begins Yusef Salaam telling his...

The explosive true story of America's most corrupt police unit, the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), which terrorized the city of Baltimore for half a decade. When Baltimore police sergeant Wayne Jenkins said he had a monster, he meant he had found a big-time drug dealer—one that he wanted to rob...

In "Justice for All" by Sage Ellison, the author tackles the pressing issue of bail reform and its crucial role in creating equitable justice solutions. Every day, many individuals remain incarcerated simply because they can't afford bail, contributing to systemic inequality and destabilizing communities. Ellison advocates for a transformative approach to justice in America that prioritizes fairness and support over punitive measures.

Locked In is a revelatory investigation into the root causes of mass incarceration by one of the most exciting scholars in the country. Having spent 15 years studying the data on imprisonment, John Pfaff takes apart the reigning consensus created by Michelle Alexander and other reformers, revealing that the most widely accepted explanations - the failed War on Drugs, draconian sentencing laws, an increasing reliance on private prisons - tell us much less than we think.

A "persuasive and essential" (Matthew Desmond) work that will forever change how we look at life after prison in America through Miller's "stunning, and deeply painful reckoning with our nation's carceral system" (Heather Ann Thompson). Each year, more than half a million Americans are released...

Judge Cordell, the first African American woman to sit on the Superior Court of Northern California, knows firsthand how prejudice has permeated our legal system. And yet, she believes in the system. From ending school segregation to legalizing same-sex marriage, its progress relies on legal professionals and jurors who strive to make the imperfect system as fair as possible. Her Honor is an entertaining and provocative look into the hearts and minds of judges.

This book is the culmination of a lifetime of love and lessons that have shaped my personal journey from a young man in crisis to a champion for children. There were critical moments in my story where self-appointed “Hope Dealers” like my mother, Alice Lovelace, and my educator, Dr. Lorraine Wilson, intervened in my projected course to failure. The lessons I learned from them became the foundation of my own work with and for young people facing challenges that they often did not believe they can face alone: hopelessness, shame, disability, tragic home life, generally summed up as the ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A renowned journalist and legal commentator exposes the unchecked power of the prosecutor as a driving force in America’s mass incarceration crisis—and charts a way out. “An important, thoughtful, and thorough examination of criminal justice in America that...

Despite reform efforts that have grown in scope and intensity over the last two decades, the machine of American mass incarceration continues to flourish. In this powerful polemic, formerly incarcerated activist, essayist, and organizer Emile Suotonye DeWeaver argues that the root of the problem is white supremacy.

In his impassioned-yet-measured book, Rafael A. Mangual offers an incisive critique of America's increasingly radical criminal justice reform movement, and makes a convincing case against the pursuit of "justice" through mass-decarceration and depolicing. After a summer of violent protests in...

Nicole Daedone entered federal custody on charges tied to her life’s work—the teaching of Orgasmic Meditation—and found herself inside the “belly of the beast,” the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. What she encounters there is a nation’s shadow made visible, and within it, an unexpected field of grace. Daedone meets women of immense courage and wit—OGs, hustlers, ministers, mystics—and even correctional officers whose quiet humanity breaks through the steel divide. Each holds a fragment of forgotten wisdom. Together, they turn the fluorescent corridors of ...