You want to end Mass Incarceration? Four things to do now.

We hear a lot about mass incarceration and criminal justice reform in the media and many of us would like to do something. Yet it seems impossible to change such a complex, entrenched and dysfunctional system. I provide you with four easy strategies that you can do before the end of the year. Starting with the upcoming elections.

1. Vote smart for District Attorney. Many people just check the one and only box on the ballot for the uncontested District Attorney election in their county. But increasingly we see more contested elections which has (finally!) given voters a choice. District Attorneys have incredible power — they have discretion to charge people with a crime or not, with a misdemeanor or a felony, or with multiple crimes. They have discretion to plea bargain or not and to set the terms of the deal. With well over 90% of criminal cases ending with a guilty plea, you can see the magnitude of the DA’s power. Check out meetyourda.org. It’s a cool interactive tool for finding out who your DA is and what their positions are on things you care about.
2. Read a book. I could blather on and on about this one. I am still shocked to hear that some people out there have not read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, but it’s true. If you are that person, just read it already! Prisons are banning it so you know it must be good. Lesser known but still popular is Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. This reads like a story and you can easily read it in a couple of days. Still, it’s impact is profound and you’ll be inspired by the sheer determination and goodness of the author. Finally, a newer book that won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman, Jr. offers a fresh perspective.
3. Hire a Felon. This advice is not for everyone; not all of us are in the privileged position of hiring employees. But maybe you work in HR or your organization takes feedback. Over 10,000 prisoners are released from custody every week in the United States, according to the Department of Justice. That’s a huge untapped resource of hard-work and talent. But much of that will be wasted. Two-thirds of those released are re-arrested within three years, many because they are excluded from well-paying jobs. A 2016 study of people released from prison in California found that the existence of employment opportunities — especially in manufacturing and construction areas — is associated with significant reductions in the number of released offenders who return to prison. So this is a two-fer: get a good employee and prevent recidivism.
4. Do your jury service. Every year my husband Doug gets called for jury duty. Every. Year. Most of the time he calls and doesn’t have to sit for hours in the Court’s molded plastic chairs waiting, waiting, waiting. When he does sit in that chair for hours or days, he usually tells them he is married to a former criminal defense attorney and the prosecutor strikes him in a snap. But every year I beg him to get on a jury. It’s such a rare opportunity to be involved in the inner workings of our democracy. In my informal Facebook survey, two people told me that sitting on a jury (both were months-long murder trials) was one of the more interesting and significant experiences in their lives. Still, in Alameda County most people don’t even respond. Yes, there are structural reasons for this problem (lack of sufficient compensation being the most significant) but if you can, serve on a jury. Since you made it this far into the article, you must be smart, committed and diligent; the criminal justice system needs people like you!