The Alliance for Safety and Justice (ASJ) is a national organization seeking to reduce overreliance on incarceration in states across the U.S. and to promote new safety priorities rooted in community health and well-being. It aims to build off and scale up the success of Californians for Safety and Justice (CSJ), a state-based advocacy and policy reform organization that, among other accomplishments, developed the first statewide network for crime victims that support justice reform. Vote Safe, the sister 501(c)(4) organization of CSJ, also crafted and ran the successful campaign for Proposition 47, a California ballot measure that reduced incarceration by changing several low-level felonies to misdemeanors, and reallocating the prison cost savings to prevention and treatment.

Building off these successes, ASJ aims to partner with state-based advocates across the country to expand state-based capacity to advance justice reform, launch a national networking center for state advocacy, and build public support for new safety priorities that can reduce over-incarceration while improving community health and well-being.

We believe that ASJ’s approach – to act as a national organization coordinating state-level efforts – may be able to help translate increased national attention towards criminal justice reform into major policy victories at the state level.

Read the full article about the Alliance for Safety and Justice at Open Philanthropy Project.