Redefining Public Safety

Our Work in Addressing Police Violence

The Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University School of Law aims to outline concrete steps for what the United States government should do in order to protect Black communities, including divesting from police institutions and reinvesting in life-affirming alternatives for Black and other communities of color.

A Growing Dilemma - How Police Brutality Affects Mental Health in the Black Communities

Amicus Brief in Support of Marcus Mitchell for 2016 Dakota Pipeline Demonstration

Executive Director Justin Hansford joins Democracy NOW! to discuss alternatives to modern policing

Meet our newest team member, Staff Attorney Marques Banks!

Marques Banks is a Law Fellow/Staff Attorney who specializes in addressing state sanctioned violence within the criminal legal system. He will focus on the criminalization of poverty and readdressing public safety.

Mike Brown's mother, from Ferguson, discussing our work with the Mike Brown Foundation.

THE HILL: Traffic stops should not be deadly, DC can lead the way

Executive Director Justin Hansford joins TMCRC Staff Attorney Maggie Ellinger-Locke to write an article for The Hill Magazine to discuss reimagining the role of police in traffic stops in the wake of the fatal police attack against Tyre Nichols.

Traffic stops should not be deadly, DC can lead the way

Executive Director Justin Hansford speaks on MSNBC

Executive Director Justin Hansford joins MSNBC to discuss the long-term mental health impacts of police violence on the witnesses in the Derek Chauvin trial and the Black community at large.

Executive Director Justin Hansford speaks on MSNBC

In October 2018 Lezley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown who was killed by police in Ferguson, Mo. in 2014, partnered with the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at the Howard University School of Law.

The focus of her work with the center involved passing legislation that provided mental health services to families and communities affected by police violence. The efforts of this partnership resulted in the introduction of the Helping Families Heal Act.

Learn more about TMCRC's advocacy of this bill on Congresswoman Cori Bush's web…

George Floyd Protest Response

With the help of Howard University law students, we:

Filed a temporary injunction against unconstitutionally imposed curfews in DC and New York (both curfews were lifted after filing the motions);
Testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about police brutality in the wake of George Floyd (the commission has now publicly condemned the police brutality in this case);
Hosted legal observer training for over 200 lawyers/students to support protesters;
Responded to a call for volunteers to pick up protesters after they were released from jail;
Provided support for students seeking to contact their local city council in an effort to create meaningful change; and
Produced a detailed white-paper on the unequal impact of Covid-19 on policing, as well as other issues in the Black community.

New Report Finds Troubling Facts About Prince George’s County Bond Hearings

The Movement Lawyering Clinic at Howard University School of Law released a fact-finding report titled Inside PG County Bond Hearings, detailing civil rights concerns they uncovered while observing bond hearings in Prince George's County, Md. Over the course of three months, law students in the Clinic collectively observed approximately 100 hours of bond hearings. Through these hearings, students discovered several troubling trends relating to due process rights, judicial ethics and conduct, and over-criminalization.

Follow this link to learn more and to view the report!