The Soros Justice Fellowships will consider projects that focus on any aspect of the U.S. criminal legal system—which we broadly see as a set of institutions and actors (law enforcement, courts, prosecutors, and corrections) and a related set of policies, practices, narratives, and orientations that exert coercive control over individuals and communities in this country.
We are keenly interested in projects that address the current social, political, and ecological moment and that contribute to efforts to build a truly inclusive, multi-racial democracy. We also encourage applications that demonstrate a clear understanding of how the criminal legal system intersects and interacts with the needs of low-income communities; Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities; immigrants; LGBTQ people; women and children; and those otherwise disproportionately affected by harsh or unfair criminal legal system policies and practices.
We especially welcome applications from individuals directly affected by, or with significant direct personal experience with, the policies, practices, and systems their projects seek to address (e.g., applicants who have themselves been incarcerated, applicants who have a family member or loved one who has been incarcerated and whose fellowship project emerges from that experience, or applicants who are survivors of violence or crime).