Protecting Globally Recognized Human Rights at the Local Level
By Alisa Orlowsky, Communications Associate
December 10th is Human Rights Day. We’re spotlighting a few approaches that state and local governments can take to protect globally recognized human rights at the local level.
Adopted in 1948 by the UN General Assembly, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has served as a guide for international leaders in their pursuit of human rights and dignity for the past 75 years. While these rights are relevant every day across the globe, December 10th is annually recognized as Human Rights Day. On this day, we reaffirm the importance of our national and international leaders developing the policies, partnerships, and practices that ensure human rights are protected worldwide; at home, the same should hold true at the state and local levels of government.
These local elected officials are the closest to the people they represent and advocate for, meaning they uniquely understand the distinct needs within their communities. In turn, state and local governments are positioned to have a profound impact on the day-to-day lives of their constituents. With the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a guiding principle, state and local government leaders should strive to protect the human rights of their constituents in the policies, programs, and services they offer. Through data-driven insights and community partnerships, ample opportunity exists to address the challenges which threaten the security of human rights in our cities, counties, and states. In observance of Human Rights Day, we’re spotlighting some examples where state and local governments rethought systems, forged partnerships, and developed solutions to alleviate barriers to the protection of human rights.
Article 10: Securing the Right to a Fair Criminal Legal Process
The United States leads the world in number of people incarcerated. It also has one of the highest incarceration rates per capita worldwide. Over-incarceration has a wide range of damaging repercussions, with physical, emotional, and economic repercussions for those who are incarcerated, their families, and their communities. In New York City, policymakers and advocates have identified closing the jails on Rikers Island as a key human rights issue, given the number of safety and due process violations that have plagued the jail for decades.
Closing Rikers is dependent, in part, on decreasing the average length of stay in New York City jails (which increased 136 percent between 2001 and 2023) and an overall reduction of the incarcerated population by 2027. The overwhelming majority of people are held pretrial—as in, their case has not yet reached a resolution— meaning they are incarcerated while presumed innocent. On the national level, there are over 650,000 people in jail on any given day, with nearly 70 percent of that population being held pretrial, and thus presumed innocent. In tandem, BIPOC individuals are overrepresented in jails, with Black people alone incarcerated at nearly three times the rate of white people. Overrepresentation of BIPOC individuals in jails also means this population bears the weight of other inadequacies of the mass incarceration system, like poor access to mental health support. In New York City, those with a mental health concern were incarcerated more than 100 days longer than those without one in the current jail population.
On the national level, there are over 650,000 people in jail on any given day, with nearly 70 percent of that population being held pretrial, and thus presumed innocent.
Safely reducing jail populations through rethinking why and how often jails are used is one approach that state and local governments can take to address over-incarceration and recommit to Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Decarceration reforms have faced public scrutiny, but evidence has shown that when done through targeted, data-driven strategies, they work. When looking at the effects of decarceration reforms on violent crime, an analysis conducted by ISLG on case-level data from 16 sites nationally shows no apparent correlation between changes in incarceration and violent crime. This analysis was made possible by the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC)—a partnership between ISLG, the MacArthur Foundation, and a network of allies —that since 2015 has worked with communities across the country to develop data-driven reforms. Research emerging from the SJC also found that access (or lack thereof) to mental health services is a stressor for incarcerated people. With staff reporting feeling ill-equipped to provide comprehensive mental health support, it’s critical that state and local governments strive to offer enhanced training and resources for staff engaging with this population.
Article 25: Securing the Right to Basic Needs
Between the lingering effects of the pandemic, systemic racial inequality, and salient elections at all levels of government, historically marginalized groups continue to be the most impacted by the harms of historical divestment and disparate law enforcement practices. Access to basic necessities, like affordable housing or quality health care, is not available to all groups. This reality is particularly compounded for certain communities, including formerly incarcerated people, survivors of violence or crime, or youth aging out of foster care systems.
More than half of people leaving prison enter the shelter system, which is linked to an increased chance of being reincarcerated. LGBTQIA+ and HIV-affected people are more likely to experience interpersonal violence; data indicates 50 percent of transgender individuals experience domestic violence. Among foster youth in New York City that leave the foster system annually, hundreds are without permanent living arrangements and are often youth of color.
Investments into social programs that aim to make basic necessities more accessible to these communities can, and should, be prioritized at the state and local government level. Not only do these social programs align with the goals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Article 25, but they also have great potential to be impactful when supported by local leaders in close proximity to the unique needs and gaps of specific communities. Taking it a step further, many existing organizations are already embedded into communities, have established trust with the people they serve, and are well-positioned to scale their work.
Taking it a step further, many existing organizations are already embedded into communities, have established trust with the people they serve, and are well-positioned to scale their work.
This model has been at the core of the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII), a partnership between the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and ISLG that is investing $250 million into communities to create and sustain programs. One such program was launched by the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery to provide comprehensive services for transgender and gender nonbinary (TGNB) survivors of violence in New York City. The Trauma Healing and Resilience Initiative for Transgender Survivors of Violence (THRIV) program offered trauma-informed individual and group counseling, trauma-specific long term therapeutic services, and other support services to survivors. The CJII evaluation showed that THRIVE helped participants’ mental wellbeing in several ways, underlining the importance of tailoring services for TGNB participants. To learn more about CJII and the impact of its programs, see our reflection on the past eight years of work.
Article 26: Securing the Right to Education and Training Opportunities
People with limited access to higher education and other types of professional and technical training are much more likely to experience instability with employment and financial self-sufficiency. For those who are incarcerated, it is significantly harder to pursue higher education or other types of professional and technical training while serving a sentence, though those credentials can play a major role in their stability after release. Further, about one in three incarcerated adults have less than a high school equivalence earned prior to or during incarceration, compared to a mere 14 percent of the general public. Additionally, only 15 percent of incarcerated adults earn a postsecondary degree or certificate either prior to or during incarceration, compared to 45 percent of the general population. College-in-prison has long been shown to expand career options and reduce a person’s likelihood of returning to prison after release. In fact, a recent study of a CJII program managed by ISLG found that college-in-prison students in New York had a 66 percent lower risk of returning to prison.
People who are survivors of violence or crime are similarly likely to face barriers to employment and financial self-sufficiency. Data indicates that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men experience intimate partner violence in their lifetimes. Survivors of violence may have inconsistent or sporadic work histories, limited skill sets, repeated work absences, and loss of employment, or be deeply in debt.
Empowering these groups with greater access to education and training opportunities has a positive ripple effect, leading to greater stability in employment and financial self-sufficiency. This has a positive impact on their futures, their families, and their communities. When state and local governments prioritize making education more accessible, it’s an investment in the community as a whole and works toward achieving Article 26 of the Declaration of Human Rights. To that effect, as part of CJII, ISLG partnered with the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and others to establish the College-in-Prison Reentry Initiative (CIP) in 2017. A $7.3 million investment, CIP built a partnership that provided more individuals with the opportunity to achieve a quality education while incarcerated. This initiative helped lay the administrative and political groundwork for a larger expansion of college in prison programs happening statewide with federal and state funding.
Empowering these groups with greater access to education and training opportunities has a positive ripple effect, leading to greater stability in employment and financial self-sufficiency.
Turning to the needs of survivors, another CJII grantee, New York-based Sanctuary for Families—which advocates for and offers services to survivors of domestic violence— expanded their Career Readiness Training Program (CRTP). The CRTP is a structured, four-month job training program for survivors of gender-based violence which aims to help participants and their families achieve long-term financial independence. An evaluation of the program confirmed that participants increased their employment rate and a variety of professional skills while participating in the program.
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