LOOK2JUSTICE
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Mission Statement
Look2Justice is a grassroots organization of justice system impacted advocates who work to cultivate justice, fairness, and accountability in Washington State’s criminal legal system through civic education and empowerment. We operate on an inside-out organizing model, meaning our organization is led by currently incarcerated people working in concert with outside organizers who are primarily formerly incarcerated and/or have incarcerated loved ones. We provide peer-led civic education to system impacted community members. We work to empower directly impacted people with the skills and knowledge to navigate legislative and policy change so that they may advocate on their own behalf. Further, through research and civic education we advocate for evidence-based sentencing practices that recognize the harm inflicted on marginalized communities by outdated criminal justice policies.
About This Cause
Look2Justice (L2J) emerged in response to years of observing that many organizations working to reform the criminal justice system purported to be “giving a voice to the voiceless.” Yet, we--the incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and families of the incarcerated--are not voiceless! For decades many of us inside prisons have tried to push for meaningful change but have had to rely on traditional advocates who are not system-impacted. The efforts always failed. At the same time, the structure of the legislative process and the process to change administrative codes and policies is intentionally opaque. The complexity and opacity of the process acts as a deterrent by making people, especially people from marginalized communities, feel intimidated and like they are unable to participate. During past legislative sessions, prior to the founding of L2J, our incarcerated founders would have people waiting at their cells first thing every morning asking questions about the legislative process as bills that could have provided relief went through the legislative process and failed. Their lives were quite literally at stake, yet the lack of access to civic education meant they were riddled with constant anxiety and misunderstanding. With the founding of L2J, people inside of prisons were able to voice the direction of the movement for decarceration. Through our programming, L2J empowers the most directly impacted people, currently incarcerated people, with the knowledge and resources to make policy and legislative change. In doing so, we ensure that currently incarcerated people are able to both participate in and lead the criminal justice reform movement. Earlier this year, we won our first campaign to end the practice of using juvenile adjudications in adult sentencing. The idea for the campaign emerged from conversations on prison yards and chow halls. Moving forward approximately 18% of all people entering the criminal legal system in Washington State annually will not be punished twice because of crimes they committed as children.