MacArthur Foundation
http://www.macfound.org/
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From the field
Building Consensus for Criminal Justice Reform
Published February 19, 2015
The Coalition for Public Safety, which brings together organizations of diverse philosophies and interests, is the largest national effort to make the U.S. criminal justice system safer, fairer, and more cost effective. The MacArthur-supported Coalition aims to build consensus around common sense justice reforms at the federal, state, and local levels.
The U.S. is home to five percent of the world’s population but makes up 25 percent of the world’s prison population – and 60 percent of those in prison are racial and ethnic minorities.
View the Coalition for Public Safety press release

Press release
MacArthur Launches $75M Initiative to Reduce America’s Use of Jails
Published February 10, 2015
MacArthur today announced an initial five-year, $75 million investment that seeks to reduce over-incarceration by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails. The Safety and Justice Challenge will support cities and counties across the country seeking to create fairer, more effective local justice systems that improve public safety, save taxpayer money, and lead to better social outcomes. Jail populations have more than tripled since the 1980s, as have cumulative expenditures related to building and running them.

“For too long America has incarcerated too many people unnecessarily, spending too much money without improving public safety,” said Julia Stasch, MacArthur’s President. “Jails are where our nation’s incarceration problem begins; there are nearly 12 million jail admissions every year, and jails too often serve as warehouses for those too poor to post bail, nonviolent offenders, or people with mental illness. With this substantial, long-term commitment and investment, MacArthur hopes to support and demonstrate alternatives to incarceration as usual, and to create demand and momentum for change across the country.”…