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Open Society-U.S.’s Soros Justice Fellowships fund outstanding individuals to undertake projects that advance reform, spur debate, and catalyze change on a range of issues facing the U.S. criminal legal system.
We are taking a moment to pause and analyze the future of our three U.S. based fellowship programs. This means we will not be issuing a call for proposals for 2025 fellows, as we would have done this fall.
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Brenda Kenneally
2001Brenda Kenneally will illustrate through writing and photography the problematic nature of incarceration for victimless drug and drug-related crimes. -
Emily Bolton
2001Emily Bolton will expose errors and identify practical, system-wide adjustments to minimize wrongful convictions. The project works to reframe the debate over the importance of constitutional protections and advocate reform of a system that places... -
Jan Goodwin
2001Jan Goodwin will write a series of articles exploring restorative justice as a viable framework for the criminal justice system. -
Jessy Fernandez
2001Jessy Fernandez will launch the Community Education Project which seeks to educate poor communities of color about the nation's over-reliance on punishment and incarceration, and to support their participation and leadership in creating and... -
Linda Evans
2001Linda Evans will increase civic participation of former prisoners, launch a public education campaign highlighting the social, political, and economic obstacles faced by former prisoners and engage in policy advocacy on behalf of them. -
Marlee Ford
2001Marlee Ford will create a replicable, community-based, prevention-focused, holistic defender model that is effective at both reducing juvenile incarceration and increasing public safety. -
Michelle Dillard
2001Michelle Dillard will raise public awareness, develop an advocacy module and framework for the implementation of therapeutic interventions for children with incarcerated parents. -
Peter Markowitz
2001Peter Markowitz will establish an immigration defense project at a local community defender which ensures that criminal representation is sensitive to collateral immigration consequences and can serve as a model for defender organizations nation-wide. -
Presita May
2001Presita May will recruit community-based lawyers to represent people of color in custody; strengthen residents' links to state and local government decision-makers, and to increase and enhance communication between community residents and the police. -
Sara Catania
2001Sara Catania will examine, through a series of articles, why the public and politicians in California continue to support prosecution of severely mentally ill people for capital crimes in spite of the 1986 Supreme Court ruling which holds that... -
Xochitl Bervera
2001Xochitl Bervera will create and implement a comprehensive and creative legal strategy to support and further grassroots organizing efforts to end all incarceration for profit. -
Alicia Amezcua
1997Alicia Amezcua will represent young people accused of crimes, to ensure they receive prompt social and educational services, and to conduct workshops on legal rights and responsibilities targeted to students, parents, and school administrators. -
Amy Hirsch
1997Amy Hirsch will explore the impact of Federal legislation that denies food stamps and government assistance to mothers and their families if the mothers have a history of felony drug convictions, even if they are now in, or have successfully... -
Andrew Block
1997Andrew Block will establish a child advocacy project, Just Children, to provide civil legal services and sentencing advocacy for low-income children in the juvenile justice system, and to teach parents effective methods for protecting their... -
Angela Browne
1997Angela Browne will write a book analyzing the lifelong effects of trauma that North American women and children face most often, such as physical and sexual violence in the home. -
Anne Kysar
1997Anne Kysar will engage in litigation to prevent the incarceration of children for non-criminal offenses. -
Barbara Fedders
1997Barbara Fedders will represent young people residing in two low-income, multi-racial Boston neighborhoods in delinquency and youthful offender proceedings, and to conduct legal workshops informing them of their rights and responsibilities. -
Christa Gannon
1997Christa Gannon will reduce recidivism among first-time offenders by providing mentoring and rights education to juvenile offenders placed on probation in Santa Clara County. -
Corinne Carey
1997Corinne Carey will represent current and recovering drug users, conduct workshops to inform them about the repercussions of new drug laws, help them resolve complex civil and criminal legal problems and organize advocates seeking more effective... -
Jaribu Hill
1997Jaribu Hill will organize a campaign highlighting the use of the death penalty in Mississippi and Louisiana on inmates with mental retardation and inmates convicted of crimes committed as juveniles, and to inform families of death row inmates... -
Joanne Lin
1997Joanne Lin will provide legal advocacy for Asian Pacific Islander battered women in family law and immigration proceedings and conduct education and training on domestic violence in Asian immigrant communities. -
Katherine Menendez
1997Katherine Menendez will research the unique legal issues raised by federal criminal jurisdiction over crimes committed on Indian reservations and to strengthen relationships between the Public Defender's Office and the Native American citizens they serve. -
Lisa Kung
1997Lisa Kung will represent individuals whose criminal background bars them from housing or employment, and to work with neighborhood organizations developing alternatives to policing. -
Rachel Moser
1997Rachel Moser will make policy recommendations as to whether the District Attorney's office current policy of vigorous prosecution for domestic violence offenders effectively responds to the needs of victims and their families. -
Rebecca Kidder
1997Rebecca Kidder will track patterns of youth crime on the Tribe's reservation, analyze the link between violent crime and gang activity, and develop rehabilitative programs in order to strengthen the Tribe's juvenile justice system.
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Brandon Brown
2024Brandon Brown and Catherine Besteman will educate, coordinate, and interrupt the flow of people into prisons through building a robust, reparative, healing alternative to incarceration in the wake of harm. -
Catherine Besteman
2024Catherine Besteman and Brandon Brown will educate, coordinate, and interrupt the flow of people into prisons through building a robust, reparative, healing alternative to incarceration in the wake of harm. -
Claudia Muñoz-Castellano
2024Claudia Muñoz-Castellano will educate and create a Texas statewide legal empowerment program to combat the alarming rise in criminalizing policies and practices that target immigrants. -
Deborah Small
2024Deborah Small will study the impact of local efforts to “reimagine public safety,” focusing on the effectiveness of the initiatives, enhancing trust between law enforcement and the community, and addressing systemic issues. -
Elizabeth Kennedy
2024Elizabeth Kennedy will research deportees to El Salvador and Honduras, focusing on youth, Indigenous and Garifuna communities, the LGBTQI+ population, and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. -
George Morton
2024George Morton will establish an initiative that elevates the vast expanse of Black narratives and fosters the transformation of Black people as artists and art subjects. -
Gina Jackson
2024Gina Jackson and Lea Wetzel will build a national model of peer support and best practices for missing and murdered Indigenous Womxn (MMIW/G). -
Kelly Davis
2024Kelly Davis will research the needs and experiences of pregnant people who have been incarcerated, to inform and advance a broader policy agenda based on gender-based violence, reproductive justice, and criminal justice reform. -
Lauren Faraino
2024Lauren Faraino will engage in legal and storytelling advocacy to investigate, and expose, and halt the unlawful practice of harvesting organs of people who die while incarcerated without family permission. -
Laverne Thompson
2024Laverne Thompson will craft a dynamic community archive of the groundbreaking efforts of Louisiana’s advocates and visionaries who paved the way for criminal justice reform in Louisiana. -
Lea Wetzel
2024Lea Wetzel and Gina Jacksin will build a national model of peer support and best practices for missing and murdered Indigenous Womxn (MMIW/G). -
Nia Lee
2024Lee will spearhead a national series for justice-impacted Black and Brown queer women, femmes, trans, and gender-expansive individuals to create a platform for dialogue, community building, and transformative justice spaces. -
Temi Mwale
2024Temi Mwale will examine how technology produces state violence and harm through the criminalization of Black communities, with a unique focus on the parallels between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. -
Tijanna Eaton
2024Tijanna Eaton will support authors who have served time in United States prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers, with wraparound coaching and services to develop books sharing their vital stories.
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