Great North Innocence Project – Conviction Review Unit
The Great North Innocence Project received a two- year, $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that will fund the formation of Minnesota’s first-ever Conviction Review Unit (CRU). The CRU, which will operate as a partnership between the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and the Great North Innocence Project.
Minnesota Public Criminal History Search
This website is a free service offered by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). The website contains public data maintained by the BCA. Data on criminal convictions is public for 15 years following the completion of any sentence.
We Are All Criminals
We Are All Criminals catalyzes conversations about crime, privilege, punishment, and second chances. They get the word out through their website, social media, traveling and interactive art exhibits, and presentations across the United States.
Minnesota Justice Research Center
651-337-9255
Through research, education, and policy development, MNJRC helps our community create a criminal justice system that aligns with our commonly held values.
Minnesota Department of Human Rights
2010-2019 Report
Timeline of reports regarding civil rights investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department’s policies, procedures, and practices over the past 10 years, examining whether or not the police department engaged in systemic discriminatory practices towards people of color under the Minnesota Human Rights Act.
Restorative Justice Community Action
612-746-0780
Over the years Restorative Justice has fulfilled its mission by establishing a diverse range of local partnerships with the criminal justice system of Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis, to local organizations and businesses, as well as federally funded community spaces such as libraries, parks, and more. Through these innovative partnerships, the community has the ability to access court referrals as well as influence policymaking on issues that affect the criminal justice system’s capacity to keep our streets safe.
Prison Policy Initiative
The Prison Policy Initiative is a leading organization in the fight against mass incarceration. They use data, both national and state specific, to explain the need for criminal justice reform, in ways designed to both bring in new allies and re-energize existing supporters.
The Sentencing Project
202-628-0871
The Sentencing Project frames the issues surrounding criminal justice reform and compiles state-level criminal justice data from a variety of sources. Using their website’s state-by-state data feature, you can navigate between interactive maps, tables, and rankings that allow you to access and use these data.
Publication: To Build a Better Criminal Justice System: 25 Experts Envision the Next 25 Years of Reform
ACLU – The Criminal Law Reform Project
The Criminal Law Reform Project (CLRP) focuses its work on the “front end” of the criminal legal system—from policing to sentencing— seeking to end excessively harsh criminal justice policies that result in mass incarceration, over-criminalization, and racial injustice, and stand in the way of a fair and equal society.
The Brennan Center’s Justice Program
646-292-8310
The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to reform, revitalize — and when necessary, defend — our country’s systems of democracy and justice. The Brennan Center’s Justice Program seeks to secure our nation’s promise of equal justice for all by creating a rational, effective, and fair justice system. Its priority focus is to reduce mass incarceration. The program melds law, policy, and economics to produce new empirical analyses and innovative policy solutions to advance this critical goal.
Urban Institute – Urban Wire: Crime and Justice
The Urban Wire is the blog of the Urban Institute. This specific blog focuses on what victims want from criminal justice reform.
The Marshall Project
212-803-5200
The Marshall Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. They achieve this through award-winning journalism, partnerships with other news outlets and public forums. In all of their work they strive to educate and enlarge the audience of people who care about the state of criminal justice.
Last Prisoner Project
The Last Prisoner Project was formed in direct response to the criminalization of cannabis and the disproportionate impact it has had on marginalized communities. The goal of the organization is to reduce and one day eliminate the social and economic inequities caused by unfair cannabis laws and related public policies. They are dedicated to ensuring that, through clemency efforts and advocating for criminal justice reform, no individual in the U.S. remains incarcerated as a result of a cannabis related offense.
Equal Justice Initiative
334-269-1803
EJI believes ending mass incarceration is the civil rights issue of our time. They challenge excessive punishment in court, advocate for parole and provide re-entry support, and advance systemic reform through research, education, and narrative work.
Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice
Penn Law
The Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School is a nonpartisan, national research and policy hub producing and disseminating research designed to prevent errors in the criminal justice system. The Center takes an interdisciplinary, data-driven, “systems approach” to identifying and analyzing the most crucial problems in the justice system, and proposing solutions that improve its fairness for the benefit of society. They state that their research and programs are independent and unbiased, engaging all parties required to effect substantial change for the better — academia, the judiciary, law enforcement, defense and prosecution, legislators, forensic and social scientists, victims’ rights advocates, the media, and others.
First Step Alliance
862-294-0355
First Step Alliance is a non-profit organization committed to charitable and educational causes that help advance successful re-entry and sustainable financial independence for formerly incarcerated people. They seek to partner with re-entry programs, credit unions and Community Development Financial Institutions to fulfill their mission.
The Sentencing Project
Publication: Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System: A Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers PDF
Reducing-Racial-Disparity-in-the-Criminal-Justice-System-A-Manual-for-Practitioners and Policymakers represents the product of a collaboration among leaders from all components of the criminal justice system. Staff of the Sentencing Project convened an advisory committee composed of criminal justice leaders who provided information, participated in group discussions, and reviewed drafts of the manual. In addition, staff and consultants interviewed a broad rage of criminal justice practitioners nationally to solicit ideas and analysis.
American Civil Liberties Union
Publication: Blueprint for Smart Justice Minnesota (2019) PDF
The American Civil Liberties Union has completed a comprehensive study on mass incarceration in the state — and what actions we can take to dramatically reduce it.
Minnesota Freedom Fund
Since 2016, their mission has been to pay criminal bail and immigration bonds for those who cannot afford to, as we seek to end discriminatory, intimidating, and oppressive money bail.