Lawndale Christian Legal Center (LCLC)

Our criminal justice system is hurting under-resourced, predominantly Black and Brown communities with over-policing, over-prosecuting, and mass-incarceration of our young people. Our current system is led primarily by individuals not from communities most affected by the justice system. Most of these well-intentioned people lack cultural competence, compassionate understanding, and shared lived experience, creating a dehumanizing system that perpetuates racist narratives. For example, Black males ages 18 to 24 are 12x more likely to be imprisoned than white males of the same age (NCSL). 1 in every 10 black men in his thirties is incarcerated on any given day and youth of color make up 2/3 of youth detention (The Sentencing Project). Young adults are overrepresented at every stage of the justice system and account for nearly a quarter of all arrests (U.S. Census Bureau). They also have some of the most elevated rates of behavioral health disorders which go unaddressed or get exacerbated during the legal process.  Contact with the justice system leads to a host of collateral consequences with lifelong and generational impact ranging from behavioral health issues to unemployment. As the justice system disproportionately affects minorities and poor people, so too do the range of collateral consequences. 

LCLC’s vision is to transform the criminal legal system in Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois. LCLC is building a community-led, holistic model of restorative justice in local communities throughout Chicago through Justice Rising Project 77 and across Illinois’ counties through Project 102. As we develop local operations in each community that are equipped to heal harm caused by both crime and an unjust criminal legal system while meeting the social needs of youthful defendants under 25, we are simultaneously transforming practices in policing, courts, and sentencing. We have the necessary partners with local community-led organizations and elected officials at every level of government as well as the expertise to ensure that every young person under 25 across Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, and ultimately the nation, is served and supported with bottom up solutions that heal harm and meet their social needs as a better path toward public safety for all.

In September 2021, LCLC expanded out of North Lawndale for the first time in twelve years, and began new operations in three additional Black and Brown communities on the westside of Chicago that, like North Lawndale, are heavily impacted by our criminal legal system. To scale our model of services in these communities, LCLC formed co-located partnerships with three highly respected, local community-led social service organizations that share our values and expertise in serving system-involved people in their community: (1) BUILD, Inc, in Austin, (2) Breakthrough in East Garfield Park, and (3) New Life Centers in Little Village. Under this collaboration, known as Justice Rising: Project 77, we are working to scale our community-led holistic model of restorative justice across the seventy-seven communities of Chicago from the ground up. We are on our way to scaling in four communities on Chicago’s westside, and have seventy-three communities to go.