Equal Justice Initiative Skoll Awardee Profile

Organization Overview

Key Info

Social Entrepreneur Bryan Stevenson

Year Awarded 2016

Issue Area Addressed Peace and Human Rights

Sub Issue Area Addressed Human Rights

Countries Served USA

Website http://www.eji.org

Twitter handle eji_org

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/equaljusticeinitiativ e

Youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/ejiorg

About the Organization

The United States has the world’s highest incarceration rate, with nearly a third of young black men under some form of criminal justice control. Seeking freedom for the unjustly imprisoned and reform of the system, Bryan Stevenson and Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) take a comprehensive approach, shaped by the persistence of racial inequality and historic discrimination. EJI advances reforms within the criminal justice system and more broadly by exposing the history of racial inequality in America, linking it to contemporary problems and practices, and challenging racial injustice through litigation, policy reforms, and education. EJI operates as a nonprofit law firm, working with clients on appeals of wrongful or unjust convictions and sentences, developing long-term relationships and helping with successful re- integration with society. The organization created The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, along with two new cultural sites, all of which are designed to help visitors meaningfully confront America’s difficult racial history and to promote a more hopeful commitment to racial equality and just treatment of all people. In addition, EJI conducts research, shares insights with key audiences, and litigates cases with potentially broad impact, including challenges of excessive and racially-biased sentencing.

Impact

In 2019, EJI won a landmark US Supreme Court ruling recognizing that dementia and other mental conditions are covered by the Eighth Amendment’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would be joining efforts initiated by EJI to challenge the unconstitutional conditions of confinement in jails and prisons throughout the state of Alabama, which has about 20,000 incarcerated people. In 2018, EJI opened the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which have attracted over 650,000 visitors from around the world. Two companion sites opened in 2019 to expand on-site programming and to complement the initial work. Thousands of individuals have participated in community events which include marker installations, soil collections, essay contests for students, reflections from community members and EJI staff, as well as community-wide discourse informed by our research and advocacy. EJI’s work is the subject of a full-length HBO Documentary, True Justice, and a feature film adapted from Bryan’s Stevenson’s international bestseller, Just Mercy. Taking advantage of the opportunity to engage and educate hundreds of thousands more people, EJI developed companion educational materials and expanded outreach through these and other film-related efforts.

Path to Scale

Legislative action prompts systemic reforms; public awareness and education build pressure for accountability.

Social Entrepreneur Bryan Stevenson grew up in a poor community in the rural south in the early 1960s. As a child, he attended the “colored school” until attorneys came into his community to implement the Supreme Court’s landmark decision, Brown v. Board of Education, banning racial segregation in education. The legal challenges that ended segregation created difficulties for African Americans who had to navigate new racial tensions, social norms, and customs, but also created extraordinary opportunities. Bryan finished first in his high school class and won scholarships that eventually took him to Harvard Law School, where he graduated with honors. He has initiated anti-poverty and anti-discrimination efforts that challenge the nation’s legacy of racial inequality, including projects to educate about slavery, lynching, and segregation. He is a professor at New York University School of Law, frequently testifies before Congress, and was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Task Force for 21st Century Policing. His work, described in his bestselling book Just Mercy, has established legal precedents that allow tens of thousands of condemned people a new chance at freedom.

Equilibrium Overview

Current Equilibrium

In the US, dual forces of unaddressed racism and structurally flawed justice systems unfairly punish communities of color. The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world, holding 25% of the world’s prison population with 2.3 million people currently imprisoned; ~37% are African American men, though they represent only ~7% of the population. Mass-incarceration is fueled by laws that dictate multiple years for non-violent crimes, like minor drug-possession, in addition to mandatory sentencing structures like the “three strikes” law (a sentence of life in prison for anyone convicted of three felonies). Private prisons have become a major business (~$70 billion), further incentivizing mass-incarceration because profits rise as prison populations do. Prison lobbies thus spend billions to keep legislation that promotes incarceration in place. When paired with long-standing racism and lack of training, these systems breed police forces and courts that disproportionately punish African Americans: Black men are six times more likely to be incarcerated than white men, are more likely to be in jail while they await trial for the same crimes, are more likely to be offered settlements with jail time than whites, and are arrested for drug crimes at twice the rate of whites (despite comparable usage between groups). Hope for justice and early release is minimized by a lack of quality, well-incentivized public defenders for convicts that come from poor areas and are unable to pay for representation. Even after release, personal rights dwindle further - convicts are barred from voting and access to social programs like welfare and public housing. Communities thus have distrusting relationships with the law and police forces - with tensions erupting in recent years as the death toll for unarmed black men killed by police continues to rise.

New Equilibrium

In the new equilibrium, there is increased public and political action to address the connection between America’s history of racial injustice and the systemic discrimination poisoning its justice systems. Widespread awareness and public pressure instigate significant policy reform efforts that successfully reduce excessive punishment, eliminating the death penalty, and reducing prison populations through reduced sentencing for nonviolent crimes. In turn, laws and systems are more accountable for upholding justice that doesn’t tolerate racial bias in policing, arrests, sentencing, and access to legal representation. Public dollars once funneled to expensive incarceration programs are in turn used to fund education and economic development in the most vulnerable communities. Police are held legally accountable for excessive use of force, and are better trained to minimize use of force, improving relationships with communities that are better able to trust systems of justice. Public awareness of racial bias in sentencing prompts courts to more fairly apply the law to the crime without considering the race of the victim or perpetrator. Public defenders are properly paid to defend clients well, holistically helping clients both inside and outside of the criminal justice system so that healing can take place beyond release. Convicts are offered a true chance at rehabilitation through renewed access to critical social programs and the ability to vote upon release.

Innovation

EJI is a nonprofit law firm that combines litigation and advocacy to tackle structural discrimination in the criminal justice system. It’s programming is broken down to address four major issues within this sphere: 1) Racial Justice, 2) Children in Prison, 3) Mass Incarceration, and 4) The Death Penalty. In addressing these issues, EJI’s approach employs three major elements: Legal representation. EJI works directly with clients during their appeals process by representing people that have been wrongly or harshly sentenced. EJI lawyers and staff social workers develop long-term relationships with clients and help them reintegrate back into society, reducing recidivism. Policy Advocacy. EJI also litigates cases that can impact a large population of incarcerated people. For example, EJI worked directly on two cases involving juveniles in adult prisons, arguing those two cases in front of the Supreme Court influenced how the 8th amendment is applied by declaring life in prison sentences for children unconstitutional. Strategic Outreach and Education. Lastly, EJI builds awareness by connecting race, poverty and mass incarceration in creative ways, such as The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and a series of in-depth reports. EJI is one of many organizations focused on addressing race and inequality in the US - however, it is a unique leader in its focus on: Focus on reconciliation, and intentional acknowledgement of US history's dark past as an essential part of national healing. EJI has been able to engage a multi-racial, highly diverse American audiences in this very difficult discussion around race through its sincerity and sensitivity when conducting advocacy and publishing its educational materials. In this way, EJI’s model draws heavily on the successes of healing through truth and reconciliation after human rights violations in other countries, such as the Holocaust in Germany and Apartheid in South Africa.Holistic framework in tackling race relations and systemic injustices across the US. EJI emphasizes the importance of history, policy, education, and income alongside the injustices that manifest within our legal system, highlighting specific instances of legal injustice and telling the story of its clients through advocacy that brings greater issues of race in the US to light.

Ambition for Change

Awareness of the connection between historic racial injustice and systemic discrimination in the justice system drives changes in laws and police practices. The public demands accountability for an end to racial bias in policing, arrests, sentencing, and access to legal representation.