Friends of Justice, TX

Friends of Justice is a grassroots nonprofit working to end mass incarceration, by generating a new public consensus for criminal justice reform. Friends of Justice empowers poor people of color to hold the criminal justice system accountable and addresses systemic injustice by launching narrative campaigns around specific cases.

Friends of Justice formed in response to the infamous Tulia drug sting of 1999 in which 47 people, 39 of them African Americans, were rounded up based on the false testimony of an undercover agent. Friends of Justice emerged as a coalition of defendant’s families and other concerned citizens who believed the defendants were being prosecuted on faulty evidence. Because of the work of Friends of Justice, the Texas Legislature passed the Tulia Corroboration Bill, which has led to the exoneration of dozens of innocent people by raising the evidentiary standards for undercover testimony.

Learning from our experience in Tulia, Friends of Justice started organizing across Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. We launch narrative-based campaigns around unfolding cases where due process has broken down, and empower affected communities to hold public officials accountable for equal justice.