The United States has far more people in prison and in jail than public safety requires. This damages the lives of those who are incarcerated, their families, and their communities, disproportionately the lives and families and communities of people of color. It also contributes to a cycle of crime and punishment and diverts resources from more constructive uses.
This purpose of this website is to provide information that individuals and organizations need in order to get involved in confronting the moral crisis of mass incarceration in Illinois and elsewhere, by accumulating and organizing the growing body of information about the full range of complex issues that we need to address in order to rethink and change the laws and practices that have resulted in too many men and women—most of them people of color—being imprisoned, and about the many ongoing efforts that one can support for making our response to criminal behavior both fairer and more effective.
That growing body of information is accessible through the links accumulated both in the summary document on opportunities and resources, which you will find under in the section entitled “Getting Involved” and in the documents that break down that same information by subject matter in the other sections of the website listed above.
Those resources also include video recordings available on this homepage of programs featuring leading experts that were hosted by St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church in Chicago in 2018 to promote greater understanding of the criminal legal system and to begin to provide tools for individuals and organizations to get involved in promoting radical change.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the CDLU.