#ConSaphos

Mission

La Defensa’s mission is to decarcerate the largest jail population in the United States by building the power of communities most impacted by the LA County District Attorney, law enforcement, and the LA County jail system. We do this by building up a network of communities dedicated to transforming the punitive justice system, developing grassroots leadership, advocacy, and political education through an anti-oppression lens. 

Our Approach

  • Culture Shift: We challenge punitive approaches to public safety through public education and cross-movement collaboration.

  • Narrative Change: We develop culturally competent media content that centers the voices of those most impacted by incarceration.

  • Policy Impact: We advance bold pretrial reform that shifts power and funding away from law enforcement and private interests and into the hands of our community.

  • Power Building: We work to elect progressive candidates that advance community informed criminal justice reform.

Our Values

  • We build a broad anti-racist, feminist, and anti-capitalist movement led by the people most impacted by criminalization, economic injustice, and other forms of state control in LA County. 

  • We believe in the importance of investment in community power that thrives on promoting health, wellness, love of our communities, transformative justice, and community accountability. 

  • We approach our work with an abolitionist lense, and will not build things we will have to dismantle in the future. 

  • We will not leave community members behind. We cannot accept positions that isolate or exclude certain members of our community, particularly we do not support positions that harden conditions or policies for those who are already among the most marginalized or oppressed.

  • We conduct our analysis and strategic movements with the understanding  that white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy maintain the status quo. 

  • We thrive on collaboration, inclusivity, and finding areas of joint struggle with allies who may not share all our same politics. We strive to make our work accessible, relevant, and inspiring to people from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. 

Donate on ActBlue: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ladefensa