Justice in Public Safety Project Counsel

The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the country’s first and foremost civil and human rights law organization. Founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, who subsequently became the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice, LDF was launched at a time when the nation’s aspirations for equality and due process of law were stifled by widespread state-sponsored racial inequality. From that era to the present, LDF’s mission has been transformative — to achieve racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society.

LDF’s litigation, public policy advocacy and public education programs in the substantive areas of criminal justice, economic justice, education, and political participation seek to ensure the fundamental and basic human rights of all people to quality education, economic opportunity, the right to vote and fully participate in democracy, and the right to a fair and just judicial system. LDF continues to make an impact in the area of public service and was recognized by Fast Company as one of its 2023 Brands That Matter under its public service category.

The Justice in Public Safety Project.  Since its inception, LDF has worked to address police violence and accountability failures for Black people in the United States through advocacy pertaining to the death penalty, wrongful convictions, police brutality, and discrimination, among other issues. Initially launched as the Policing Reform Campaign in 2015 in the aftermath of the police killings of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Walter Scott, and Freddie Gray, the campaign is now a permanent LDF project, titled the Justice in Public Safety Project (“the Project”). The Project uses an integrated advocacy strategy, which brings together litigation, policy, organizing, communications, and research, to develop and implement alternative models of public safety, as outlined in our Framework for Public Safety, deter and redress racially discriminatory policing practices, and mitigate and challenge public safety threats that undermine the foundations of our multi-racial democracy, such as biased policing of racial justice protesters.

The Project seeks a Justice in Public Safety Project Counsel to implement legislative and policy reform strategies at the local and state levels, and support the Policy Department with policy advocacy at the federal level, to advance the Project’s goals, with particular emphasis on preventing the use of discriminatory law enforcement technologies, protecting racial justice protesters from abuse and criminalization by police, and reducing the footprint of law enforcement in public safety systems. 

LDF operates in a hybrid work environment where employees are expected to be in the office a minimum of two days per week, unless otherwise indicated.

Responsibilities:

• Identify, develop, and implement legislative and policy reform strategies at the local and state levels, and support the Policy Department with similar strategies at the federal level, regarding law enforcement’s use of advanced technologies, the protection of racial justice protesters, and other substantive priorities of the Project in collaboration with the Policy Department.
• Conduct legal and factual research concerning the Project’s priorities, including advanced law enforcement technologies, rights to speech and protest, public safety systems, law enforcement policies and practices, and related criminal justice issues.
• Assist with building and/or participating in national, state, and local coalitions, partnerships, and task forces to advance community safety with a racial justice lens that prioritizes directly-impacted communities.
• Work collaboratively with LDF’s attorneys, organizers, policy staff, communications specialists, and resear