Just City Inc. (JC) was founded in 2015 to promote access to legal counsel and to reduce the harm to families and communities resulting from contact with the criminal justice system in Memphis, Tennessee. JC targets criminal justice policy and practice to improve fairness for the accused regardless of wealth, race, or ethnicity. ^{1 2}

JC advocates for greater public accountability in courts, easing the process of clearing a criminal record, eliminating money bail, and reducing of the number of criminal laws in the City of Memphis, the County of Shelby, and the State of Tennessee. ^{3 4 5}

Programs

Clean Slate Fund

Just City established the Clean Slate Fund to ease the process of clearing a criminal record by eliminating fees for expungement, reducing the eligibility waiting period, expanding of the number of offenses eligible for expungement, updating the filing system, and making some expungements automatic. ⁶

Bail Fund

JC established the Memphis Community Bail Fund and the Nashville Community Bail Fund in 2016 and joined the radical-left Community Justice Exchange (CJE), a national network of community bail funds, as a stopgap in the drive to eliminate cash bail entirely. CJE, claims to be an abolitionist organization that is working to eliminate prisons, policing, prosecution, surveillance and any form of detention or supervision. CJE supports the radical-left Critical Resistance (CR), a group seeking to build an international movement to end what it calls the prison industrial complex. JC advocates a step-by-step process towards their end goal of elimination of cash bail for misdemeanors in Shelby County then eliminate pretrial detention entirely and eventually end it state-wide. ^{7 8 9}

JC advocated for and successfully established a new process in Shelby County that includes a bail hearing courtroom, individualized bail hearings within three days of arrest, examination of the financial circumstances of the charged, and imposition of bail as a last resort. ⁹

Court Watch

Just City Inc. promotes opportunities to observe, document, and report activities inside Shelby County criminal courtrooms. ¹⁰

Court Watch Report

JC has established a system that uses court reports to write opinions on each Judge’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas needing improvement. The program uses volunteers in its evaluation and publishes reports and posts on Instagram for interim reporting. ¹¹

Legislative Advocacy

Just City Inc. has taken credit for support and passage of bills that allow an offender to petition for expungement of their record even if they have been convicted of a subsequent criminal offense that is not eligible and a separate bill that reduces the sentence for drug-free school zone violations occurring prior to September 1, 2020. ¹²

Funding

Just City is funded by grants from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights (RFK Center), the National Football League, and Arnold Ventures. ^{13 14}

People

Joshua Spickler is executive director of Just City and former director of the Defender’s Resource Network of the Shelby County Public Defender’s Office. As part of the Special Litigation Team he helped manage the Jericho Project, a prison diversion program for those with mental illness and substance abuse issues. ¹⁵

Finances

Just City Inc. has raised $5,248,273 from gifts and grants during the five-year period from 2018 through 2022. ¹⁶

1. ^[1] “Just City.” Just City – GuideStar Profile. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/47-2650826.
2. “Just City.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/company/justcity/.
3. Five years of fighting. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://reports.justcity.org/5years/.
4. “Just City.” JUST CITY. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.justcity.org/about.
5. “Systemic Problems.” JUST CITY. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.justcity.org/problems.
6. “Clean Slate Fund.” JUST CITY. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.justcity.org/clean-slate-fund.
7. “About Us.” Community Justice Exchange. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/en/about-us.
8. “Mission & Vision.” Critical Resistance. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://criticalresistance.org/mission-vision/.
9. “Memphis Community Bail Fund.” JUST CITY. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.justcity.org/memphis-community-bail-fund.
10. “Court Watch.” JUST CITY. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.justcity.org/courtwatch.
11. “Feb28report.Pdf.” Google Drive. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://drive.google.com/file/d/10SEvPQZEYd5NPJ2cXDKnZiNg9YCUI7Vr/view.
12. “Legislation.” JUST CITY. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.justcity.org/legislation.
13. ^[1] “2023 Impact Update.” JUST CITY. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.justcity.org/2023update?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1BqtMMkBroIXmqRnTPcZEaSdRDHzL2AKZ-oqF9u8rtG184qoqoGFNRe00_aem_AWp2XuZtxMEGS7Wy81dh2nHxuynZAsW3yD_iN1jeU4_M7sJmWRvFaouvcp3WxpqgV9iiLc_rnLfbtfdoyUOe53Zo.
14. “Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax, (Form 990) 2022, Schedule I, Part II, Line (a)(1).
15. “Team 1.” JUST CITY. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.justcity.org/team.
16. “Just City Inc”, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) 2022, Part II, Line 1.