What if science could eliminate racial bias in policing? Today, this question was answered by the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) as the focus of its big idea funded through The Audacious Project. The $30 million of support that has been committed to CPE will be used to further enhance COMPSTAT for Justice, a data tool that tracks police behavior to help law enforcement agencies reduce racial disparities in policing.

Center for Policing Equity (CPE) is teaming up with the Players Coalition, an independent organization comprised of professional athletes across leagues focused on improving social justice and racial equality in our country, to launch a new initiative aimed at engaging America’s youth, the Young Justice Nerds. The Young Justice Nerds awards (YJN) are a ‘first of their kind’ competition to celebrate high school and college students across the country doing the work of promoting improvements in criminal justice.

“The energy and aspirations of our nation’s youth have always been the North Star for social reform. Over the past four years they have marched, organized, volunteered, stood up, and taken a knee for the sake of a better future—a future we owe them,” said Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, CPE President and Co-Founder. “As CPE continues to lead the nation on data-driven approaches to police reform, we could not be happier to partner with the Players Coalition to recognize this generation of committed leaders and to lift up the work they are already doing to perfect our democracy."

Professional athletes from around the country will tape short videos aimed at increasing participation across the country. The videos will be shared on social media and sent to school districts nationwide. NFL Super Bowl Champion and Players Coalition Co-Founder, Anquan Boldin is featured in the first released video. “There is nothing more important than making sure that our youth are protected and celebrated—especially when they are taking the initiative to shape their futures,” Boldin said. “I am so proud of what these students are doing and so excited that they are using their intelligence and passions to make their communities safer and fair.”

The goal of the YJN Competition is to lift up the passions, genius, and inspiration young people have for justice. Winners will receive prizes, a trip to Washington, D.C., and a chance to meet all the NFL players from the videos. Awards will be presented during the Science of Justice Awards Dinner - the closing event to CPE’s 2018 biennial convening - on Thursday, May 3rd, 2018. The deadline to apply for the YJN competition is April 9th.

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ABOUT THE PLAYERS COALITION

Players Coalition is an independent 501c3 organization, working with professional athletes across leagues on improving social justice and racial equality in our country. Our work is focused on three key areas: Police & Community Relations, Criminal Justice Reform and Education & Economic Advancement.

ABOUT CENTER FOR POLICING EQUITY

Center for Policing Equity is the nation’s leading think and action tank on racial justice and policing. In an era of political divisiveness and social unrest, CPE believes collaboration with law enforcement and communities is imperative. CPE has worked for 10 years to hold police and their communities accountable and build trust in cities and states across the country. By providing evidence-based analytic tools and up-to-date research, CPE’s work amplifies the need for a broader bipartisan movement for criminal justice reform.

[CPE Cofounder and President Dr. Phillip Atiba] Goff said he works with institutions of power to help translate the institutions' values into behaviors to create mechanisms of metrics of accountability for the institutions to police the communities that are most vulnerable. "By doing this, we are able to engage the communities that have traditionally thought of law enforcement as their adversaries," Goff said. "We build processes that communities can trust when they can't trust each other."

Read more here.

Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff recently wrote a guest piece on mathbabe.org on why justice needs nerds, you can read it here.