FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 10, 2024

Contact: Michael Czaczkes, mczaczkes@vera.org

On Thursday, September 12th, the Vera Institute of Justice will launch The 30 Year Project (embargoed clip available here), a four-part limited series podcast examining the impact of mass incarceration over the last 30 years since the now infamous 1994 Crime Bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The bill, which was the largest piece of crime legislation in the history of the United States, has been blamed for fueling the mass incarceration crisis by allocating billions of dollars to hire more police officers and build more prisons.

The podcast is hosted by writer and journalist Josie Duffy Rice, host of Justice in America, What a Day, and Peabody-nominated podcast Unreformed: the Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children. The podcast also features nationally recognized policymakers and leaders in the justice movement, including Cook County (Chicago) State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Fordham Law Professor John Pfaff, Vivian Nixon of the Columbia University Justice Lab, and FWD.us Executive Director Zoe Towns.

Duffy Rice and her guests will lay out a vision for moving criminal justice reform forward given the current political climate while also examining the impacts of mass incarceration on the people caught up in the system as well as families, communities, and our society writ large.

“30 years after being signed into law, the 1994 Crime Bill continues to receive scrutiny over the billions of dollars it allocated to hiring more police officers and building more prisons,” said Ed Chung, vice president of initiatives at the Vera Institute of Justice. “The reality is that the bill’s legacy is complicated. Even though the bill did not create mass incarceration, it perpetuated the idea that the only way to safe communities is more police, more punishment, and more prisons. But we know that the system needs to shrink, and there are better solutions that are now taking root across the country. This podcast breaks down the last 30 years of the justice reform movement, debunks common misconceptions, and lays out a playbook for the future.”

“As our nation reckons with the past decades of mass incarceration, the 1994 Crime Bill has received widespread backlash and been blamed in part for the carceral system we have now. But few people really understand what was and what was not the impact of the bill, the lessons we have learned, and how the landscape of safety and justice has changed over the last 30 years, which is what this new podcast from the Vera Institute of Justice is designed to do,” said Josie Duffy Rice, podcast host and journalist.

The full season will be available on Apple Podcasts.

###

About the Vera Institute of Justice: The Vera Institute of Justice is powered by hundreds of advocates, researchers, and policy experts working to transform the criminal legal and immigration systems until they’re fair for all. Founded in 1961 to advocate for alternatives to money bail in New York City, Vera is now a national organization that partners with impacted communities and government leaders for change. We develop just, antiracist solutions so that money doesn’t determine freedom; fewer people are in jails, prisons, and immigration detention; and everyone is treated with dignity. Vera’s headquarters is in Brooklyn, New York, with offices in Washington, DC, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. For more information, visit vera.org.