Mission Statement

Our Vision

We envision a community-centered future for justice in which healing and resiliency, rather than punishment and surveillance, are used to solve social problems often rooted in racial and economic inequity.

Our Mission

The Justice Lab seeks to foundationally reconceive justice policy through actionable research, community-centered policy development, and the sustained engagement of diverse constituencies.

Our Values

  • Employ imagination and ask foundational questions – what we call “Square One thinking” – to generate new ideas, push the boundaries of what reform could and should look like, and consider how to make those ideas a reality.
  • Center communities and individuals with direct experience of the justice system, poverty, and historic and current racism when identifying priorities and developing solutions.
  • Create an active dialogue among policy, advocacy, and top-tier research in order to enhance our ideas and strengthen our impact.

Our Strategies

Leveraging the experience and expertise of community-based experts, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and advocates, the Justice Lab uses four key strategies to generate new ideas and to create and protect change:

  • Designing and conducting research to inform justice policy development and advocacy.
  • Serving as a convener to facilitate both peer-to-peer learning and bridge-building among diverse and interdisciplinary perspectives.
  • Disseminating new ideas for justice policy and practice, building readiness and momentum for change and driving progress.
  • Working with students and young people, especially those with direct experience of justice involvement, to build the next generation of researchers, advocates, practitioners, and policymakers.

 

Learn more about the work of the Justice Lab here.