The Lie of Criminal Justice Reform
When people hear the phrase “criminal justice reform,” they often assume it means progress: shorter sentences, more fairness, better treatment of incarcerated people, and real second chances.
But here’s the truth: most of what’s being sold to us as reform is surface-level. It’s not transformative. It doesn’t address the roots of injustice and it definitely doesn’t undo the harm already done
What criminal justice reform would actually look like 🤩
• Ending mass incarceration
• Giving people a second chance
• Making the system more “fair”
• Fixing racial disparities
• Closing prisons
What people think it looks like 🤥
• Swapping prisons for electronic monitoring
• Probation systems with impossible conditions
• Charging people for their own incarceration
• Cleaned-up language with the same harsh impact
• Politicians using reform as a buzzword while funding police at the same time
This blog is about breaking down what reform actually looks like in practice, and how it fails the very people it claims to help.
“The U.S. has less than 5% of the world’s population but nearly 20% of the world’s prison population.” — Prison Policy Initiative
What to Expect in The Reform Files đź“š:
The Reform Files section of this blog is where I go deep. Each article will unpack a different aspect of the system from legal loopholes to reentry struggles to community survival stories.
Here are just a few topics I’ll be covering:
• Behind My Record: My firsthand story of being arrested, navigating court, and what it really felt like to be labeled and left behind
• The Second Arrest: How “rehabilitation” failed and how the system sets you up to fall right back in
• Housing & Jobs: Why reentry is a setup when you’re denied the basic tools to survive
• The Myth of Probation: How probation and parole keep people trapped in a system they never truly leave
• Reform vs. Abolition: Breaking down the difference and why we should be aiming higher than just reform
• Resource Roundups: Practical tools and organizations doing real work in the community
Beyond the Record 
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