For more than 50 years, the Vera Institute of Justice has been at the forefront of transforming the American justice system and grounding it in principles of human dignity. Today, driven by an era of activism and hunger for change, we see new opportunities to drive concrete, measureable reform on the most important justice issues of our day.

Our approach to this work is informed by the knowledge that our criminal justice system is tied to our nation’s deep legacy of slavery and racial oppression. Indeed, we believe that progress is impossible without acknowledging this, and we aim to center race at the core of our three strategic priorities: (1) closing mass incarceration’s front door—to dramatically shrink the number of people in jail; (2) radically transforming conditions of confinement to promote restoration, healing, and accountability for people behind bars; and (3) securing equal justice, fairness, and safety for diverse, harmed communities.

This ambitious vision for change is backed by action on real-world reforms that work, as you will find in the stories on these pages. While we know the scope of Vera’s work is wide, we hope that these stories illustrate the impact of our work to change both systems and the lives of everyday people. Each of the projects highlighted is the product of Vera’s methodology, in which we pilot scalable solutions for reform; implement models through engagement with diverse communities; share stories of success; and harness the power of evidence to create a “new normal” of effective policies and practices nationwide.

We are at the forefront of critical change today. And over the next decade, Vera will produce ideas and solutions that would have seemed unimaginable a decade ago. We are grateful for the generosity of the supporters who are helping to make this vision a reality