Update on the Open Society Institute U.S. Criminal Justice Fund

I was honored to join the Open Society Institute in July 2008 as the director of the Criminal Justice Fund for U.S. Programs. OSI has long prioritized decreasing the overreliance on incarceration and harsh punishment, and improving the administration of criminal justice in the United States.  Last year, in an effort to facilitate more coordinated grantmaking and other programmatic activities, U.S. Programs merged four projects focused on criminal justice reform into a single Criminal Justice Fund.

Over the past few months, the Criminal Justice Fund has engaged in an evaluation of its work, including a comprehensive review of materials and interviews of current and former grantees, other stakeholders in the field, and leadership and staff of U.S. Programs.  Moving forward, the Criminal Justice Fund will continue OSI's investment in promoting open society values by reaffirming our commitment to addressing three critical issues:

• reducing mass incarceration;
• eliminating harsh punishment; and
• eliminating racial disparities and securing a fair and equitable system of justice.

The Criminal Justice Fund will pursue our programmatic goals primarily through grantmaking to organizations, which makes up the bulk of the fund's work, and to individuals through the Soros Justice Fellowships. 

Our grantmaking supports advocacy, public education, grassroots organizing, litigation and communications. We are committed to building the capacity of a core group of organizations that work across our priority areas and through which many new leaders have and continue to emerge.

Although the fund has not considered unsolicited proposals for support during this period of change, we expect to begin accepting letters of inquiry in early 2010. Look for updated grant guidelines on our website toward the end of November 2009.

Leonard Noisette
Director, Criminal Justice Fund