From the Nominator

The Path Forward: Columbia Law School Confronts Criminal Justice Reform was conceived as a way for the Columbia Law School to demonstrate its commitment to addressing mass incarceration, one of the defining civil rights issues of our time. The publication chronicles how Columbia Law School faculty, students, and alumni are tackling criminal justice issues in their scholarship, advocacy, litigation, policy-making, judicial reform, and direct representation efforts. To illustrate the sequence of events that are the foundation of the criminal justice system and how individual lives are impacted, the publication included six sections—Policing, Cash Bail, Sentencing, Juvenile Justice, Punishment, and Release and Reentry—that reflect the scope of the issues at stake and the human toll of mass incarceration.

From the Judges

This entry was informative and demonstrated Columbia Law's thought leadership and activism in this area. The crisp and bold but sophisticated graphics carried the theme well and made the content accessible. The writers used historical evidence-based research to prepare the articles, which gave credibility to the content. The addition of the video component also surprised and delighted us.