It is our goal to encourage all League members to reform the criminal justice system through education and advocacy.

National

• Policing Reform - LWVUS joined a letter with over 400 civil rights organizations calling on Congress to implement needed policing reforms.  The letter urges congressional leadership to swiftly rectify the legacy of white supremacy and anti-black racism that has led to police violence against Black people across our country. Read the letter and contact your members of Congress.
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion - LWVUS has an ongoing committment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) with substantial training, leadership support, and practical tools.

2022 Criminal Justice Reform Caucus & Resources

The 2022 LWVUS Convention adopted by concurrence and the following Leagues have adopted by concurrence LWV-California's Criminal Justice Position:  AZ, DE, MI, NC, NY, WA, Seattle/King County WA, and St. Louis, MO. NM & KY are considering concurrence. Other Leagues have updated their comprehensive Criminal Justice positions:  IL, MA, MT. Slides for Advancing Democracy through Criminal Justice Reform (you can share slides using this short link: bit.ly/lwv2022cj).

2020 Criminal Justice Reform Caucus & Resources

We held a caucus at the LWVUS Virtual Convention 2020 to inspire Leagues across the country (particularly state Leagues) to get involved. One outcome of this caucus might be the formation of a group of League members to track, support, connect and celebrate criminal justice education and advocacy efforts everywhere.

Slides, Recording and Handouts

• Recording of the Making Democracy Work in the Criminal Justice System Caucus on YouTube
• PDF of slides
• Very detailed agenda with many links and handouts <--IMPORTANT

Criminal Justice Positions

We hope that our California Criminal Justice position, supporting materials from across the country, and committee members will assist your League in identifying key reform areas specific to your state and local communities. To help we conducted extensive research which includes state and local positions, policy best practices (policing practices, pre-trial procedures, sentencing, incarceration, re-entry, and general information), and peripheral state and national positions.

• Definitions of Criminal Justice Terms
• Background Information
• LWV-US Clearinghouse of studies and research -- Index of state and local Criminal Justice positions. This only shows submitted positions, if your Criminal Justice position/study is missing, please get your League to submit it following instructions here: How to Submit a Study or Position - Clearinghouse.
• State Leagues with positions on Juvenile Justice
• State Leagues with positions on Criminal Justice
• LWV California Criminal Justice Position. LWV California used called “concurrence” to establish their Criminal Justice position, but it may be more flexible than the policy your League uses (we highly recommend adopting California's).
  
• Past LWV Positions Used for Criminal Justice Advocacy. Prior to the adoption of a position on Criminal Justice Reform, LWVC was able to advocate and take action on criminal justice reform using already established positions. 

What Is Available in California?

 We have created this toolkit for California Leagues: https://my.lwv.org/california/criminal-justice-local-league-toolkit