THE WREN COLLECTIVE

For decades, those with power have weaponized the criminal legal system to prevent Black, brown, and poor people from participating in our democratic society. Every year, they incarcerate nearly 7.5 million people in jails and prisons in the name of public safety while divesting from preventative solutions that actually keep people safe, because incarceration takes people out of civic society and helps those who have power preserve it. 

Those same officials are dramatically expanding their use of the legal system to solidify and expand power. They want to restrict who gets a say in how we live. 

This newsletter breaks down the ways that the right is manipulating the criminal legal system to preserve and even expand its power over a growing bloc that opposes it. We often talk about these issues in silos, pointing separately to the criminalization of abortion as if those responsible for the rollback of Roe v. Wade have different motivations from those driving mass incarceration. These attacks are a coordinated effort to suppress democracy, and we must recognize this plan in order to harness our collective power. 

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In each installment, we highlight the myriad ways elected officials are working to keep people from democratic participation. 

 

We also highlight ways that people are fighting back. We hope to learn from the heroic efforts of organizers, elected officials, legal teams, and protestors as we work to preserve our right to say how this country functions.