A top priority for the Center is advancing justice in the criminal legal system. Qualitative experience and quantitative data demonstrate that racial disparities persist at every stage of the criminal legal system.
Disparities can be the product of biases in the exercise of discretion by system actors, including police officers, prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, pretrial, probation, and parole officials. We understand that the negative impact of decision-making in the criminal legal system is demonstrably worse and implicates more bias when those decisions are made without oversight, in areas of the law that are under-appreciated, and rendered against populations that are underserved and marginalized. The focus of the Center’s criminal justice work is on helping actors in the criminal legal system make decisions that account for their racial bias in order to advance justice. We also work to reform the systems, institutions and the policies that guide them that perpetuate racial injustice and inequitable outcomes.
Parole in New York State
The Center is working to reduce the racial disparities that pervade parole release decisions in New York State. Parole provides a particularly stubborn example of the ways in which discretion invites biased decision-making and drives mass incarceration. The Center is working to diagnose and address the causes of racial disparities in parole hearing releases through rigorous data analysis and research. By unpacking the root causes of disparate outcomes that result from the current process, we aim to shape viable solutions that address racial disparities in the decision-making process and, ultimately, reduce the prison population in New York State. The Center is a member of the Steering Committee for the People's Campaign for Parole Justice (PCPJ), which works to reduce the number of people in prisons across the state of New York by advocating for legislation that would prioritize the release of aging prisoners and make the parole hearing process fairer and more humane.
Articles and Publications
- 2023 Addendum to The Problem With Parole: New York State's Failing System of Release (see 2021 report here).
- Opinion: Justice LaSalle blessed skin color discrimination in jury selection. That's disqualifying.
- Black and brown children are not 'superpredators' and should not spend life in prison
- The Racist Fearmongering Campaigns Against Bail Reform, Explained
- Freedom Delayed, Justice Denied: Increasing Racial Disparities in New York's Parole Release Decisions