Who We Are
About Us
Just Communities Arizona
JCA is an abolitionist organization that seeks to end the current punishment system and its emphasis on criminalization, surveillance, and mass incarceration.
We envision a world in which prisons and jails are unnecessary.
We build this new world by recognizing the inherent worth and dignity of all people, deeply resourcing people and communities, addressing social and public health problems, seeking accountability, healing harm and trauma, and building cohesive, interdependent relationships.
We believe those directly impacted by the current punishment system are central to this discussion and must be leaders in the movement to end mass incarceration.
We believe local communities know best how to create safety and wellbeing for themselves; they should have agency in decisions that impact their lives, and these efforts should be fully supported and funded.
We envision a world in which prisons and jails are unnecessary.
Our Story
Dr. Grace Gámez
In 2015, a crucial architect of JCA’s work, Dr. Grace Gámez, founded the ReFraming Justice Project, a platform for systems-involved people to create change through storytelling, public testimony, engagement, and advocacy.
Dr. Gámez developed and conducted a unique method of community action research in partnership with impacted individuals and community partners that inform JCA’s policy stances and provides the basis for much of our current organizing around community-based justice reinvestment.
This deeply embedded approach to relationship building with impacted people and communities, and the research data gathered, are all foundational to the JCA’s work.
Dr. Gámez now serves as Assistant Director of Advocacy at The Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University.
Just Communities Arizona and AFSC-Arizona: Leaders in Arizona criminal justice reform
In January of 2022, Just Communities Arizona (JCA) spun off from its parent organization, the American Friends Service Committee, to become and independent 501(c)(3) organization.
Then
As a chapter of the American Friends Service Committee, JCA has been working on criminal justice issues in Arizona since 1980.
Twenty years ago, criminal justice reform in Arizona (and elsewhere) was a radical notion. Tough-on-crime was the buzzword, and speaking up for the rights of defendants or incarcerated people was dismissed as bleeding-heart naiveté or maligned as undermining public safety.
Now
Today, our organization leads a broad coalition of over 30 state and national partners that span the political spectrum. Our work has been cited by national publications such as The Atlantic and Sports Illustrated. And formerly incarcerated people are being recognized as leaders in the movement for reform.
Ongoing Victories
- Passing sentencing reform legislation every legislative session since 2012, including bills that reduced fines and fees; increased diversion, and provided for early release.
- Conducting original research that has directly informed and shaped policy in Arizona and elsewhere on such under-studied topics as drug prosecutions and sentencing; conditions, cost, and performance of Arizona’s private prisons; and neighborhood perceptions of community safety.
- Challenging for-profit incarceration by exposing the poor performance of private prisons; forcing the State of Arizona to conduct a mandated comparison review of public and private prisons, resulting in the cancellation of an RFP for 5,000 beds; and passing County and City resolutions pledging not to privatize jail management or services.
How do Arizonans define community safety?
Just Communities are...
