Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law
About Us
The Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law confronts and upends the array of laws, policies, and practices that lead to racial oppression, marginalization and injustice. We believe that the racism that permeates our present day legal system has deep roots. By documenting the history of racism in America, elevating the stories of those affected by race-based inequality, and rigorously applying a racial lens to analyze unremitting disparities, we identify actionable, forward-looking solutions to address the injustices caused by racism and then take action to advance racial and social justice for all.
Our Latest Press Releases
Stay informed about the Center’s work, events, and impact through our official press releases. Here, we share updates on leadership, research, advocacy initiatives, partnerships, and public programming as we continue to push for systemic change.
Our Newsletter
Our newsletter offers in-depth stories, commentary, and insights from the Center’s staff, faculty, and community partners. It’s designed to keep supporters connected to our ongoing research, advocacy, and opportunities to engage with our mission. Subscribe to receive updates directly in your inbox.
Our Work
Revealing Patterns
Excessive Sentencers: Using Appellate Decisions to Enhance Judicial Transparency Report, released in partnership by the Center and Scrutinize, assesses appellate court decisions to reduce sentences, revealing patterns of excessive sentencing by individual judges and raising questions about judicial accountability in New York.
Recent Reports
The Center's 2024 Addendum: Freedom Delayed, Justice Denied: Increasing Racial Disparities in New York State’s Parole Release Decisions (PDF: 287 KB) finds that the vast racial disparities in parole release rates have only worsened in recent years.
The Center's 2023 Addendum to the Problem with Parole: New York State's Failing System of Release shows that racial disparities in parole release decisions have continued to worsen since 2021.
Racial Segregation in Housing Policy (PDF: 20.7 MB) highlights some of the present-day policies and practices that continue to perpetuate a racial caste system in the United States.
Building Safe, Thriving Communities: Research-Based Strategies for Public Safety (PDF: 7.11 MB) lays out a new path for public safety using research-based strategies in policing, prosecution, and sentencing.
The Problem with Parole: New York's Failing System of Release makes policy recommendations to transform the parole system, putting redemption and rehabilitation first.
In the News
Supreme Court Blesses Racial Profiling in Immigration Enforcement (Slate)
Trump's Chicago Occupation Could Cost Four Times More Than Housing City Homeless (The Intercept)
A Senator Just Unapologetically Declared the U.S. a White Homeland (Slate)
US tech companies enabled the surveillance and detention of hundreds of thousands in China (AP)
Most US adults think individual choices keep people in poverty, a new AP-NORC/Harris poll finds (AP)
As AI becomes part of everyday life, it brings a hidden climate cost (AP)