For Second Chance Month, we are highlighting a purpose-built business and long-standing RBIJ ally committed to helping people with felony convictions and problems with addiction - Nehemiah Manufacturing. By providing justice and addiction impacted individuals with the employment opportunities and support necessary to effectively re-enter society, this company - and their founder Dan Meyer - are amazing examples of the transformative role that businesses and their leaders can play in their communities.

For the first time ever, business leaders are joining forces to help end capital punishment. On March 18, on a panel at South by SouthWest, RBIJ CEO Celia Ouellette and Virgin founder Richard Branson launched the Business Leaders' Against the Death Penalty Campaign. Joined by Sabrina Butler Smith, the first woman ever exonerated from death row in the United States, they urged governments everywhere to end capital punishment and called on fellow business leaders to get involved.

Jochebed consults with RBIJ on financial sector engagement in the social equity space and the coordination of financial actors in the fight for fairer systems of criminal justice.

We sat down to understand her story, what inspired her to set up J Aduke Consulting, what made her get involved in justice reform, and the role she feels investors play in creating a fairer and more equal society.

For Black History Month, we are highlighting the work of GRID 202 - a financial advisory firm using investment to address racial injustice, and their founder and managing partner Keith Beverly, who works with individuals in institutions to “generate returns with impact and discipline” - with a specific focus on racial equity.

For January’s Spotlight we profiled 70 Million Jobs - an employment agency for people with criminal records - and their founder Richard Bronson, who was inspired to help people back on their feet after he struggled to find work post-incarceration.

For our end-of-year Spotlight we wanted to profile a company that has long been a vanguard of the justice-impacted community, and the amazing work they are doing to help returning citizens: Dave’s Killer Bread.

For this month’s Spotlight, RBIJ are celebrating the great work being done by our partner Flikshop and their founder Marcus Bullock, to connect incarcerated people with their loved ones.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on September 18, 2020. In this tribute, RBIJ Chief Executive Celia Ouellette reflects on the departure of an icon - her immeasurable achievements, the lessons she left us with, and her advice for carrying on.

In this month’s Justice Champion spotlight, RBIJ are highlighting our partner Cisco’s work delivering digital education in our prisons and providing incarcerated people with the skills they need to rebuild their lives on release.

In this month’s Justice Champion spotlight, RBIJ are highlighting the brilliant work of our partner The Body Shop, and their success providing meaningful second chances to those looking to return to the workforce.

For our inaugural “Spotlight”, celebrating the amazing work of justice engaged businesses, we profiled Televerde and its Chief Social Responsibility Officer Michele Cirocco. Televerde is a B2B demand generation company that employs and trains incarcerated women, whilst at the same time generating billions for its customers. Michelle leads these efforts with first hand experience, having started working for Televerde as an incarcerated women herself.

Leaders from the business and legal communities have co-signed an open letter to Justice Secretary Robert Buckland MP to release medically vulnerable and nonviolent offenders at risk of COVID-19 in prisons and jails. 

Yesterday, Governor Jared Polis signature made Colorado the 22nd state to abolish the death penalty. Many will have missed it. Attention in the U.S. and beyond remain understandably fixed on the global pandemic, and the 15,000 lives it has already taken across 163 countries. However, during a period when death and disruption dominate headlines, it is more important than ever that we recognize efforts to save lives everywhere.

Be it through advocacy, justice focused-initiatives, or hiring, corporations can be instruments of change. And change cannot come fast enough.

In the United States, Black men are nearly six times as likely to be incarcerated as White men. Black people use drugs at exactly the same rate as White people, yet they are 10 times more likely to be arrested for drug offenses. People of color account for 37 percent of the US population, yet they make up 67 percent of the total US prison population. Punishments are harsher, too — federally imposed sentences for Black men are 19 percent longer than for White men for similar crimes.

The Conservative landslide has caused grave concern in the British criminal justice community. Over the past 18 months Home Secretary Priti Patel has doubled down on the party’s “tough on crime” reputation, promising to make criminals “feel terror”. This accompanies proposals for tougher sentencing, greater police stop-and-search powers, and an end to early release.