Criminal Legal System
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Address to the National Committee for Children and Youth Conference in Unemployed
Tags Share Many people have asked me what connection the Department of Justice has with a conference on unemployment concerning out-of-school youths in urban areas. You may be wondering too. The reason is: Today, the Department of Justice, through the Bureau of Prisons, is providing institutional care and treatment for more than five thousand juvenile
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Statement by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights President Kerry Kennedy on the Supreme Court Nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson
Tags Share New York – Ketanji Brown Jackson could be the first former public defender and Black woman to become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. As a human rights organization dedicated to a more just and equal world, we welcome the expanded perspectives that greater professional and personal diversity can bring to the Court. However,
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United Nations inquiry finds that Egyptian authorities arbitrarily detained Ahmed Samir Santawy
Tags Share The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights welcome the favorable opinion by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention finding the Egyptian government arbitrarily detained our client Ahmed Samir Santawy in violation of international human rights law. The Working Group held that the government arbitrarily
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Young Leader Alexa Browning talks about civic engagement, criminal justice reform, and her advice to other youth organizers
Tags Share This world, Robert F. Kennedy said, “demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease.” That’s why Robert F. Kennedy Human
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The Legacy of Criminal Justice Reform
This lesson plan explores Robert F. Kennedy’s legacy of criminal justice reform in a time defined by the rise of the New Jim Crow.
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Mass Bail Out
Share In October 2018, RFK Human Rights freed more than 100 people from New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail who were incarcerated pretrial because they couldn’t afford their bail. The effort highlighted how money bail discriminates against people of color and those experiencing poverty—generating unprecedented demand for reform.
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Criminal Justice and the New Jim Crow
Learners create educational materials on mass incarceration, reach out to their state representatives, and take mindful action with the organizations of two human rights defenders, Andrea James and Bryan Stevenson.
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Holding Sheriffs Accountable
Q&A with Linda Franks on the launch of Communities for Sheriff Accountability.
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Texas Community Bail Funds Grow
Tags Share Sparked by protests following George Floyd’s murder, bail funds have experienced a surge of attention and fundraising. Just last summer, bail funds received over $90 million in donations—including $1 million from RFK Human Rights and Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp—to support their urgent work freeing people from pretrial detention. The Dallas Morning
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RFK Human Rights and Local Partners Celebrate Major Bail Reform Win in Texas
Tags Share More than 60% of people in Texas’ jails—some 40,000 individuals—have not been convicted of a crime. In fact, most of them are only in jail because they can’t afford to pay bail. Texas Governor Greg Abbott knows full well that eliminating cash bail could spare tens of thousands of his constituents from unfairly
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