Spotlights
In our work to reimagine justice, themes emerge that provide new and essential perspectives for considering the our current justice policies and efforts to improve them.
Reckoning with Racial Injustice
Centuries of targeted racism, racial violence, and economic disadvantage directed at native, enslaved, black, and immigrant communities have created a formidable system of oppression and disenfranchisement. A concerted effort to acknowledge and reckon with these histories in a meaningful way is essential to dismantling current policies - including justice policies - that perpetuate inequality for these communities. Participants and partners of Square One, like so many in our nation today, are grappling with this as we work to reimagine justice. What is the relationship between our racialized and violent history and our current justice system? Is a racial reckoning a key part of fundamental justice reform? Is there a kind of historical reckoning that would allow us to move forward towards healing and greater equity for all?
Square One
A Review of Recent Historical Scholarship on Racial Criminalization and Punitive Policy in the United States
The Values of Justice Reform
A primary commitment to retribution and punishment make the U.S. criminal justice system distinguishable as the most punitive system globally. Increasingly, Square One is recognizing that the future of justice should be guided by clear foundational values that uphold the humanity and dignity of all people. The recognition of these values will extend far beyond the justice system and create greater equity in systems of education, housing, public health, and more. What are the values that are crucial to reimagining justice? How do we build consensus and understanding around a new set of core values, and put them into practice?