Goals of Project
Led by the Vera Institute of Justice, the Ending Girls Incarceration Initiative is a national effort to disrupt the criminalization of girls and reach the bold goal of zero girls incarcerated by 2030. To reach this goal, the NYU and Vera partnership works with local jurisdictions to design planning processes that allow local leaderships to examine gender inequities within their systems, establish a theory of change, and build powerful partnerships to facilitate systemic reform. This work is guided by a shared vision of a world in which all children are valued and have an equal right to a safe and healthy childhood regardless of race, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation, and strives to therefore build stronger, safer, and more equitable communities for girls of color and gender expansive children—-communities in which girls and gender expansive youth are no longer criminalized for the violence and discrimination they face. Currently being implemented and evaluated across five jurisdictions nationally (Maine; New York City; North Dakota; Santa Clara, CA; and Hawai’i), this partnership wants to expand and inspire legal systems to permanently close the doors of their juvenile facilities for girls, while simultaneously supporting their safety and well-being through programs and reforms that address the root causes of girls’ incarceration.
Partnership with Vera
Our research team is partnering with The Vera Institute of Justice to ensure that the systematic reform efforts to End Girls Incarceration are evaluated using cutting edge applied translational research methods across and within national sites. Our research team serves as a resource for analyzing programmatic data and developing new systems of sustainable data collection and monitoring. We also provide synthesis of academic literature that can inform programming and dissemination by translating scholarship into evidence-based practice.
Learn more about the EGI Initiative at the Vera Institute of Justice