The moment a parent comes in contact with the criminal legal system, their entire family is impacted. As a result of an arrest alone, a parent may lose access to housing, public assistance and a job that enabled them to support their family. Further, when someone is incarcerated, they may face significant costs to maintain relationships with their family and community, at the time when they are least able to pay. One in 12 children in the United States have experienced parent

Mass incarceration is an institution as American as apple pie. In 2019, roughly 2.1 million people were incarcerated in the United States. Between local, state and federal prisons, 810 per 100,000 adults were incarcerated in America. The United States incarcerates more of its citizens per capita than any other country in the world. While the raw numbers are startling on their own, they hide a harsh reality for incarcerated persons: they rarely receive help for addiction or me

On Feb. 2, 2022, Minneapolis police executed a no-knock raid on Amir Locke’s apartment as part of a homicide investigation in neighboring St. Paul, Minnesota. Surprised by the entering officers, Locke reached for his legally registered firearm. SWAT shot him twice in the chest. He died at 7:01 a.m., 15 minutes after his door was broken down. The no-knock warrant did not name Amir Locke as a suspect. The body camera footage from one of the officers was leaked, and a massive pu

On Aug. 16, 2016, Stacy Lorraine Naber, a transgender woman, was found dead in her cell in a mens prison facility at Dade Correctional Institution in south Florida. She had unsuccessfully attempted to change her legal name mere months before she was found dead. Florida law dictates that incarcerated people cannot legally change their names and that their legal names at the time of incarceration “shall be the inmate’s official identification throughout the continuous incarcera

The growing movement for policing reforms reached a pivotal moment in 2020, following the death of George Floyd. That summer saw a push for change regarding police officers’ use of force, especially concerning racially discriminatory practices. A variety of elected officials were forced to respond to this push with action, but most eyes looked toward prosecutors for substantive changes. “Traditionally, the public and the police viewed law enforcement and the prosecutor's offi