Justice Is The Next Normal

By Katharine Huffman

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, an emergency release of incarcerated people by many state and local officials across the country has forced us to confront the truth about the uniquely American phenomenon of mass incarceration. We now see even more vividly the enormous damage it’s done to millions of Americans and their families, its failure to make our neighborhoods safer and stronger, and the connection between the health and safety of people inside our jails and prisons and the broader community.

This awakening wasn’t soon enough, but it’s not too late for it to be the start of a permanent transformation. The push to release tens of thousands of people should have happened years ago. Now, we are suddenly confronted with a moment when the possibility of starting our criminal justice system at “square one” becomes not just a possibility, but an urgency.

For the past two years, the Square One Project at Columbia University’s Justice Lab has been engaged in a far-reaching conversation to reimagine justice in the United States. We have been asking a simple foundational question: if we set aside the traditional, jail-and-prison-focused response to crime, and ask first whether other responses might be more effective — if we seek a new “square one” — how would justice and social policy be different?

Given our conversations and this critical moment, the Square One Project is launching a new campaign — #JusticeIsTheNextNormal — to ensure that we don’t go back to the status quo after this pandemic. Rather, we transform “emergency” decarceration into a permanent new foundation for justice in America.

Our campaign kicked off last week with a virtual Town Hall bringing together some of the brightest minds in health, history and justice.

The #JusticeIsTheNextNormal campaign will allow us to imagine what our justice system could look like if it were centered on care and healing rather than punishment, on opportunity and equity rather than racism. It will call on leaders across the country to use this moment to start building a new vision of justice and safety for America. Now is the time.

We hope you’ll join us.