Common Justice

Advocacy -- the policy team raised awareness about new york state's victim compensation program in order to eliminate barriers to access that survivors face. The first bill we introduced, the fair access to victim compensation bill, was successfully signed into law in 2023. The bill removed the requirement that survivors report their harm to the police in order to be eligible for victim compensation. The team has worked to eliminate the state's contributory conduct policy, which bars survivors from receiving victim compensation if they or the loved one they lost to violence are deemed to have had a hand in their own harm. Continued on schedule o what constitutes contributory conduct can range from being a member of a gang, to allegedly instigating an altercation, to having illegal drugs in one's pocket at the time of harm. In addition to raising community awareness about the state's contributory conduct policy, the organizing team worked with community members to develop strategies that will change the way media outlets report on crime, violence and safety.

Partnerships & training -- this year, we worked with leaders standing up aligned interventions in cities where there is a crucial need and desire for solutions to violence that don't rely on mass incarceration. These include st. Louis (with the freedom community center), jackson, mississippi (with the people's advocacy institute), nashville (with the raphah institute), and minneapolis (with an emerging range of partners). We also launched a cohort-based year-long national practitioners lab for groups interested in building similar interventions. The cities represented in the cohort include detroit, philadelphia, new orleans, durham, memphis, nashville, oklahoma city, houston, seattle, and the state of maine.

Communications -- alongside our work on the ground, we have continued to grow our efforts to change the narrative on criminal justice, incarceration and the violence that people survive in new york state and across the nations. We have created five curricula that can be used by partner organizations to help those most impacted by violence rethink safety and crime, as well as take steps to impact change. In addition, we convened journalists and advocates to develop various ground-up strategies that will help our movement counter harmful narratives that lead to mass incarceration and punitive policies.