Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law
About Us
Mission
The Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law confronts and upends the array of American laws, policies, and practices that lead to racial oppression and injustice. By illuminating the history and impact of racism on law and society, we are able to find solutions to the injustice it causes and take action to advance freedom and fairness, for everyone.
Vision
The racism that permeates our present day legal system has deep roots. The Center envisions a world in which everyone is able to thrive, regardless of race, class, or any dimension of identity.
- Communities of color transform racial narratives and are active contributors in the movement toward racial equity in the legal system.
- Legal practitioners, policymakers, teachers, advocates, and the public are catalyzed to combat institutional racism and work to create a fair and equitable legal system.
- A fundamental component of legal education in the United States is understanding the law through the lens of race and inequality.
- Inequitable laws, policies, and practices are challenged and reformed or abolished as a result of legal action, advocacy, research, and training.
Our Newsletter
Our newsletter offers in-depth stories, commentary, and insights from the Center’s staff, faculty, and community partners. It’s designed to keep supporters connected to our ongoing research, advocacy, and opportunities to engage with our mission. .
Our Work
Revealing Patterns
Excessive Sentencers: Using Appellate Decisions to Enhance Judicial Transparency Report, released in partnership by the Center and Scrutinize, assesses appellate court decisions to reduce sentences, revealing patterns of excessive sentencing by individual judges and raising questions about judicial accountability in New York.
Recent Reports
The Center's 2024 Addendum: Freedom Delayed, Justice Denied: Increasing Racial Disparities in New York State’s Parole Release Decisions (PDF: 287 KB) finds that the vast racial disparities in parole release rates have only worsened in recent years.
The Center's 2023 Addendum to the Problem with Parole: New York State's Failing System of Release shows that racial disparities in parole release decisions have continued to worsen since 2021.
highlights some of the present-day policies and practices that continue to perpetuate a racial caste system in the United States.
Building Safe, Thriving Communities: Research-Based Strategies for Public Safety (PDF: 7.11 MB) lays out a new path for public safety using research-based strategies in policing, prosecution, and sentencing.
makes policy recommendations to transform the parole system, putting redemption and rehabilitation first.
In the News
(Slate)
(The Intercept)
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