Criminal Justice Initiative

JCPA’s Criminal Justice Initiative engages Jewish communities around the country in reforming the criminal justice system and ending mass  incarceration in partnership with communities most directly affected.

The inequities people of color suffer at the hands of the justice system constitute one of the most pressing civil rights crises the United States faces today. Since the 1990’s the U.S. prison population has exploded, a phenomenon referred to as mass incarceration. Today, the U.S. incarcerates roughly 25% of the world’s prisoners despite representing just 4% of the world’s population.

Rooted in the belief that justice must be tempered by compassion, JCPA advocates to end the injustice of mass incarceration and mass criminalization.

JCPA is active in national policy making on criminal justice reform, advocating on Capitol Hill, and partnering closely with civil rights and interfaith coalitions. JCPA is a member of the EMI NETWORK and has endorsed EMI’S PREACH, TEACH AND ACT curriculum.

Other resources include:

Jewish Values Framework on Ending Mass Incarceration

JCPA Resolution on Restorative and Rehabilitative Justice

JCPA Resolution Reaffirming Commitment to Racial Justice Within the Jewish Community

For more on JCPA’s past work on criminal justice reform, click here.