DC Justice Lab

Policy Goals

DC Justice Lab opposes “aggressive policing,” and supports restrictions on policing power, including limitations on police stops. ² The group advocates for establishing an “independent time utilization audit” of the Washington, D.C., police force. ³

DC Justice Lab is a member of the Unlock the Box campaign against the legality of solitary confinement. ² In 2021, DC Justice Lab gave a $15,000 grant to the Council for Court Excellence to campaign against solitary confinement. ⁴

DC Justice Lab has supported reparations for Black Americans. ⁵

Racial Equity Framework for Gun Violence Prevention

With financial support from the Joyce Foundation, DC Justice Lab, the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, Cities United, March for Our Lives, Community Justice Action Fund, Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy, and the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy developed the Racial Equity Framework for Gun Violence Prevention. ⁶

The report provides guidelines for how to apply racial equity impact assessments to gun-violence prevention policies. It advocates organizing an anti-gun violence movement around organizations led by racial and ethnic minorities with private and government funding. ⁶

According to a post on X/Twitter by Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias, In June 2024 Sullivan was quoted by her stating, “A lot of people in these neighborhoods have guns for their own protection, but that is not the same thing as pinpointing people who are in danger of becoming shooters or being shot…I feel like police officers are just being misled into believing that they’re doing something effective…” ⁷

Activity

In January 2023, DC Justice Labs co-hosted a webinar with the ACLU District of Columbia, DC Action, DC for Democracy, the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, Empower DC, Empower Ed, and the Fair Budget Coalition. ⁸

DC Justice Labs supported the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022, an overhaul of Washington, D.C.’s criminal code which eliminates most mandatory minimum sentencing, reduces penalties for robbery, and allows jury trials for all misdemeanors. The bill was vetoed by Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) but the veto was overridden by the city council in January 2023. DC Justice Lab considers the bill a moderate improvement in the criminal justice code while critics claimed it will overburden the city’s legal infrastructure and incentivize more crime due to more lenient sentencing. ⁹ Congress, which holds Constitutional supervisory authority over the District, held a vote to disapprove the changes, though President Joe Biden said he would veto such legislation if it reached his desk. ¹⁰

In February 2022, DC Justice Lab organized Safety Summit 2022 with the National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams. ¹¹

Leadership

Patrice Sullivan

DC Justice Lab founder and executive director Patrice Sullivan is an attorney at the Sulton Law Firm, a fellow at Echoing Green, and a board member of the Network for Victim Recovery DC. From 2018 to 2020, she served as a senior attorney advisor on the DC Criminal Code Reform Commission, a task force based “in principles of anti-racism” for which she published a report advising the city to reduce its prison population by 50 percent. From 2015 to 2017, Sullivan worked as a professor and supervising attorney at Law Students in Court (now known as Rising for Justice). ^{12 2}

In 2021, Sullivan’s salary from DC Justice Lab was almost $155,000. ⁴

Emily Cassometus

Director of government and external affairs Emily Cassometus previously served as deputy director of the Council for Court Excellence, an organization to which DC Justice Lab granted $15,000 in 2021. Prior, Cassometus was a criminal and disability rights fellow for the D.C. Jail and Prison Advocacy Project at Disability Rights D.C., a program of University Legal Services. She sits on the board of Collective Action for Safe Spaces. ¹³

Funding

In 2021, DC Justice Lab generated $1,226,714 in revenue, nearly all of which came from donations. ⁴

DC Justice Labs has received funding from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, ¹⁴ the England Family Foundation, ¹⁵ Humanity United, ¹⁶ the If Foundation ($15,000), ¹⁷ the Meyer Foundation ($170,000 from 2020 to 2021), ¹⁸ and Liberated Capital of the Decolonizing Wealth Project. ¹⁹