We Are All Criminals

One in four people has a criminal record; four in four have a criminal history

With We Are All Criminals, photographs and first-person narrative humanize the destruction caused by decades of mass incarceration and mass criminalization, while leaving readers, viewers, and listeners with a sense of hope and inspiration to effect change. 

THIS MATTERS NOW MORE THAN EVER

Calls for ‘law and order’ are back and more emboldened than ever. Tough-on-crime policies and othering rhetoric threaten to set us back significantly, or at the very least stall what progress we’ve made.

Our nation is becoming rapidly, frighteningly less empathetic.

But there is hope. It’s happening in our cities, in our neighborhoods, in our own backyards—and WAAC is proud to be a part of that hope. We work hard to catalyze conversation around crime, privilege, and punishment in classrooms, boardrooms, city councils, and state legislatures across the US. Mass criminalization can be stopped at a local level—but we need your help.

Help us change the conversation. Help us make it personal.

HOW MUCH SHOULD I DONATE?

Let's say you weren't caught smoking pot, shoplifting, driving drunk, getting in a fight, stealing your neighbor's cable or wifi, or giving leftover pain medication to a friend. That means you didn’t pay $125-1,800 in court fines and fees. You didn’t pay for an attorney, you didn’t take time off work, hey—you didn’t even pay for parking to attend a hearing.

You didn’t pay for court-ordered treatment, supervision costs, and fees for nights spent in jail. You didn’t lose out on job, career, or education opportunities. You weren’t denied housing. Your insurance rates didn’t go up. You maintained your scholarships, your internships, your financial aid, and your license. You kept your right to vote, to be heard.

You haven’t held your breath, fearing that someone might run a Google search on you. 

You’ve been judged on your merit, rather than your mugshot.

What may have initially cost $500, over the course of decades would likely cost thousands of dollars (and countless lost opportunities) more.  

Now consider giving a mere fraction of that back. 

Support WAAC so that second chances—similar to what you may have benefited from—are a possibility for everyone.

 

YOUR SUPPORT HELPS:

Collect and share more stories
Reach the people that need to hear the message the most
Continue to keep the WAAC website fresh
Share the hot-off-the-press WAAC book with readers nationwide

CATALYZING CONVERSATION + CHANGE:

An employer said WAAC sparked meaningful dialogues and opened minds about fair hiring
A prosecutor said that it reminds her to acknowledge her privilege
A public defender said that it’s the most inspiring, innovative, & important thing he’d seen
A judge said that he won’t so callously accept guilty pleas anymore
A police officer said that he hadn’t before thought about how many times he could have been in the back seat of the squad, rather than the front  
A person who had been harmed said that she was able to forgive the person who hurt her
A professor said it’s the first thing that’s helped students really understand their privilege
A mother said that it helped her son feel human again
A student said it’s changed his views on crime and punishment
A policymaker said it’s changed the way he views disparities in our system
A man currently incarcerated said it brings him peace, power, and hope
A man with a criminal record said that he feels a great weight, a heavy stigma, has been lifted
And a donor said that he now realized our common humanity, and that the project is transforming lives.