Campaigns.
RBIJ works with companies to support specific policy reform campaigns, helping them use their voices and resources to create meaningful change in systems of justice through both public and private advocacy. Here are some examples of our ongoing and previous work.
Death Penalty.
RBIJ partners with hundreds of businesses and campaign organizations to help end capital punishment at regional, national and global levels. The death penalty has been repeatedly proven to be cruel, ineffective, discriminatory, expensive, and shockingly error-prone. RBIJ works with companies - and their leaders - to help end it once and for all.
Criminal Records.
Millions of people face substantial and often unnecessary barriers to employment, housing, education and other services due to a criminal or arrest record. These can persist long after an individual has paid their debt to society, and disproportionately hold back people of color and other marginalized communities. RBIJ works with businesses to dismantle these barriers and advance policies that allow individuals to contribute economically and socially. This includes Clean Slate legislation, which automatically seals records for certain offences - if a person remains crime free for a specific period of time.
Juvenile Sentencing.
Out of everyone in society, children are some of the most vulnerable and the most capable of change. Yet they are routinely subjected to cruel, unforgiving and unending punishments. One of the most extreme examples of this is Juvenile Life Without Parole sentencing (JLWOP), which sentences children to die in prison without possibility of relief - and is still practiced across the United States. RBIJ works with businesses and campaign organizations to help end cruel extreme juvenile sentencing practices like JLWOP.
Cash Bail and Criminalization of Poverty.
Each year hundreds of thousands of Americans sit in jail for extended periods of time pre-trial, legally innocent but unable to afford bail. Similarly, hundreds of thousands of Americans on parole and probation find they are unable to afford fines and fees associated with their conditions of release, and many of them are re-arrested and re-incarcerated as a result. These policies punish people simply for being poor, disproportionately hurt marginalized communities, and do little to improve public safety. RBIJ supports businesses in calling for an end to the criminalization of poverty, and an end to the use of cash bail.
Prisons.
RBIJ works with businesses, campaign organizations and justice experts to fight the many predatory practices and arrangements that pervade carceral systems around the world, while at the same time advocating for proven prison and justice solutions that measurably increase safety both inside and out.