Since 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) has worked to end racialized police violence and promote police accountability across the nation. LDF founder Thurgood Marshall represented one of the “Groveland Four,” who were four Black men falsely accused of raping a white woman. After this false accusation became public, one of the four men was killed by a mob led by the local sheriff, and another was murdered by the sheriff during an escort to court. LDF also litigated Tennessee v. Garner, a seminal Supreme Court case in which the Court held, for the first time, that officers could use deadly force to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect only if the suspect posed a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.
Eighty-five years after our founding, LDF continues the fight to build systems of community safety in which all people can thrive without undue reliance on law enforcement. Through litigation, policy advocacy, community organizing, public education, and strategic communications, LDF partners with local stakeholders to dismantle the false and pernicious stereotype of Black criminality so that everyone is valued and respected in our shared public safety systems.
In 2015, LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute launched its Policing Reform Campaign in the aftermath of the police killings of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, and Natasha McKenna, which galvanized public demands to end racialized police violence and to ensure greater police accountability. After five years of working side-by-side with activists and lawyers across the country, in 2020, the campaign became the Justice in Public Safety Project. The Project continues LDF’s work to deter and redress racially discriminatory policing practices and police violence while also affirmatively advancing LDF’s Framework for Public Safety.
Public safety, like education, is a uniquely local function that is influenced by local decision makers and informed by history, environment, and social customs. But with over 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the country, justice in our public safety systems must also be advanced through state and federal policies and laws. Persuading decision makers at the local, state, and federal levels to embrace transformative changes to policing and public safety systems requires multiple strategies.
To advance our goals, LDF uses community organizing, litigation, policy advocacy, research, and strategic communications at the local, state, and national levels. LDF brings these various strategies together in an interdisciplinary manner to create solutions that ensure police accountability and a transformation of public safety that meets the needs of Black communities.
LDF understands that empowering local communities, particularly Black communities, is central to the long-term goal of building and promoting fair and accountable public safety systems. To aid this work, LDF deploys a team of highly skilled national organizers focused on developing local leaders and supporting local campaigns to transform local public safety practices. Together, LDF organizers and local partners are committed to a transformational, radical realignment of power for communities of color. LDF organizers also support families who have lost loved ones to law enforcement violence and communities impacted by police violence as they seek accountability for prior violence and structural changes to public safety systems to prevent future violence.
Support for rally in front of New York City Hall calling for the passage of Intro 798, which would abolish the NYPD’s Criminal Group Database. (February 2025)
Support for the passage of the How Many Stops Act (HMSA) which would require the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to more fully document its investigative encounters. (2023-2024)
Convened first-ever National Movement Building Conference, “On the Rise: Building Black Political Power,” which brought together organizers, partners, and experts in the racial justice sector from across the country. (September 2023)
Support for the City Vote coalition, which sought to halt the construction of Cop City, a controversial law enforcement training center in Atlanta that has drawn national and local attention. (August 2023)
Support for local communities to develop, expand and implement community-based responses to calls for service and pushing for community-based solutions to deter violence and address the root causes of violence with community groups, local stakeholders, and officials. (2022-Current)
Assistance with convening a rally in partnership with the G.A.N.G.S coalition to call on the Office of Inspector General to release an investigative report regarding NYPD’s “Criminal Group Database,” which local advocates have long identified as contributing to a racially biased surveillance system that has harmed many Black and Brown New Yorkers. (September 2022)
Community forum in partnership with local organizations in North Charleston, South Carolina to collect information from community members regarding their experiences with, and their proposed solutions to, racially biased policing practices by the North Charleston Police Department (June 2021)
Letter from Anthony and Denise Scott, Charleston Area Ministry of Justice, ACLU of South Carolina, Charleston Black Lives Matter and LDF providing recommendations to identify and remedy racially biased policing practices by the City of North Charleston and the North Charleston Police Department (September 2021)
Letter from Charleston Area Justice Ministry, ACLU of South Carolina, LDF, and almost 300 Charleston area residents successfully demanding a racial bias audit of North Charleston’s Police Department (April 2020).
Co-convening of Tulsa leaders in a public hearing on racial disparities in (Tulsa Public Hearing on Racial Disparities in Policing – March 2019).
Town hall meeting in Baltimore to collect community views about a proposed consent decree between the Department of Justice and the Baltimore Police Department (Baltimore Town Hall – 2016).
Support for local communities’ demand for federal civil rights investigations of police departments to address long-standing racially-discriminatory policing practices in certain cities and counties (Clergy letter to President Obama regarding death of Freddie Gray – May 2015; North Charleston letter to DOJ – July 2015).
LDF has unique experience working at the micro level to change police practices, and we bring that experience to bear on every issue. LDF litigates to challenge racially discriminatory or otherwise unlawful law enforcement conduct, practices, policies and laws that shield officers from accountability.
Filed suit against the City of New York, challenging the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) targeting, surveillance, and criminalization of tens of thousands of Black and Latino New Yorkers through the use of the Criminal Group Database, widely known as the Gang Database. The complaint asserts that the NYPD’s practices and policies related to the Database are in violation of the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, as well as state and local laws.
Filed an amicus brief in André et al. v. Clayton County, Georgia on behalf of internationally recognized Black comedians Eric André and Clayton English, who, on their way to board their flights out of the Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, were racially profiled, unlawfully detained in a narrow jet bridge, and interrogated without basis by Clayton County Police Department (CCPD) officers.
Filed an amicus brief challenging Atlanta Municipal Code Sec. 66-37(b)’s ban on non-Atlanta residents collecting referendum petition signatures.
Filed suit against the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office on behalf of the nonprofit civil rights organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida (CAIR-FL), seeking Sheriff Nocco to fulfill his nondiscretionary duty under Florida law to disclose information related to its predictive policing program that targets students.
Filed suit against the City of New York, NYPD officers, and others for excessive force, race discrimination, and other violations stemming from officers’ conduct against Andrew Smith, a peaceful protestor, who had his face mask removed and was pepper sprayed by an NYPD officer during the 2020 protests against police brutality in NYC In March 2024, LDF and co-counsel reached a settlement on behalf of Mr. Smith.
Successfully challenged the Graham Police Department and Alamance County Sheriff’s Office for pepper-spraying peaceful protestors during a march to the polls and racial justice protest in Graham, North Carolina.
Filed suit on behalf of residents in a predominantly Black neighborhood in West Philadelphia for the Philadelphia Police Department’s excessive and unwarranted use of militaristic force during a peaceful protest. LDF’s case was one of four cases arising out of the police violence aimed at resident and protesters. In May 2022, under the settlement terms of all four cases, the City of Philadelphia agreed to pay an unprecedented $9,250,000 in monetary damages to those harmed by the PPD in the summer of 2020.
Filed suit against the City of Louisville and the Louisville Metro Police Department on behalf of protesters who were subjected to militaristic force and intimidation in response to peaceful demonstrations against police violence.
Successfully challenged former President Trump’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice for violations of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
This lawsuit was filed in June 2019 on behalf of the family of Bradley Blackshire, a Black man who was repeatedly shot and killed by a Little Rock Police Department officer. The suit brought forth several claims, including counts of excessive force, failure to provide medical attention, and wrongful death. In 2021, LDF and co-counsel reached a settlement for monetary and non-monetary relief.
Successfully challenged the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) policies and practices of unlawfully stopping and arresting New York City Housing Authority residents and their visitors for criminal trespass without sufficient evidence and due to their race and/or ethnicity and currently participating in court-ordered monitoring
LDF’s Framework for Public Safety is a starting point for a new paradigm of public safety that centers the dignity and humanity of individuals and communities while creating conditions to reduce crime on a sustained basis and avoid the harms associated with the current system of law enforcement. To move from reimagining public safety to making it a reality begins with changing our choices and investing in solution-oriented outcomes.
Through its policy advocacy, LDF works to advance police accountability, end the influence of racial and other bias, and transform public safety practices within communities at the federal, state, and local levels.
Testified at the New York City Council, endorsing Intro 798, which would abolish the NYPD Criminal Group Database. (Feb 2025)
Letter to the Atlanta City Council expressing support for Atlanta’s Policing Alternatives and Diversion Initiative (PAD), which provides critical services for Atlanta’s most vulnerable residents—important services that are in jeopardy unless funding is extended immediately. (September 2024)
Sign-on letter to DOJ, ED in support of peaceful pro-Palestinian protesters signed by national and regional civil rights organizations (July 2024)
Letter to Atlanta Mayor and City Council members urging implementation of ordinance laying out process for verifying signatures of referendum process. (February 2024)
Written testimony to MD Senate on SB 182 urging amendments to strengthen limitations on law enforcement use of facial recognition. (February 2024)
Written testimony to MD Senate on HB 338 urging amendments to strengthen limitations on law enforcement use of facial recognition. (February 2024)
Framework for Public Safety, which outlines three critical interventions that begin to advance a plan for effective, equitable and humane public safety structures for the benefit of all community members. (February 2023)
Letter to the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Transportation calling for federal solutions to reduce police violence in traffic encounters. (February 2023)
Written comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology to promote equitable artificial intelligence, outlining how Artificial Intelligence (AI) developers, as well as practitioners, experts, community stakeholders, and impacted communities, are best positioned to prevent AI systems from perpetuating systemic racial injustice. (September 2021)
Letter to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, opposing the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) by law enforcement and highlighting the disproportionate threat that FRT imposes on communities of color when used by law enforcement. (July 2021)
Letter request to Attorney General Merrick Garland to strengthen the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) policies, protocols, and procedures for enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and suspend grants to law enforcement agencies until the DOJ can ensure each agency is not discriminating in violation of Title VI. (April 2021)
Written testimony to the Maryland Senate in support of Senate Bill 627 to repeal and replace the Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights. (February 2021)
Written testimony to the Maryland House Judiciary Committee, opposing House Bill 671 unless it expands the category of police disciplinary records that can be made public. (February 2021)
Written testimony to the Maryland Senate in support of Senate Bill 178, which would amend the Maryland Public Information Act to permit the release of records relating to police misconduct investigations and disciplinary decisions. (January 2021)
Release of Police Accountability Policy Platform (August 2020).
Letter on behalf of Civil Rights Coalition, requesting federal investigations into the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (June 2020).
Testimony calling on Congress to strengthen the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 (June 2020).
Successful support of the repeal of New York Civil Rights Law § 50-a, allowing the release of certain police disciplinary records (LDF testimony before the New York State Senate, 2019).
Letter to Attorney General Holder (2014) and testimony to President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (2015), calling for the Department of Justice to address the unjustified use of lethal and excessive force by police officers in jurisdictions throughout this country against unarmed Black people.
Letter to Department of Justice/President’s Law Enforcement Equipment Working Group (2015), criticizing the law enforcement use of militarized weapons in educational settings.
Request to Senate committee to curb militarization of state and local police and impose structural reforms to ensure police accountability (2014).
LDF conducts research to develop and advance new models, theories, analyses, and data on racial and social justice, and to create tools that make information accessible for activists and advocates working to improve their public safety systems in their local communities.
A research brief that provides an affirmative vision for traffic safety through proven methods that do not result in police violence. The brief details how policing fails to achieve the goals of traffic safety, fuels racial disparities in the criminal legal system, and disproportionately exposes Black communities to racialized police violence. (2024)
A research brief showing that, during summer 2020, police were more likely to be violent when responding to racial justice protests. The brief details how police have repeatedly and disproportionately responded with elevated violence and suppression to racial justice protests, as compared to other protests. The findings have specific implications for all who exercise or seek to exercise their constitutionally protected First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights to engage in lawful protest without discriminatory harassment. (2023)
A report that examines false narratives presented by politicians and the media to explain the 2020 nationwide increase in homicides, such as the expansion of bail reform, practices of progressive prosecutors, and attempts to defund the police. The report also offers a robust analysis that highlights reasons for the 2020 increase in homicides, including pandemic-induced instability and inequality, as well as pre-pandemic housing and economic inequality. (2022)
A report, co-authored with the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, outlining the community-based services and solutions needed at the local, state, and federal levels to end police responses to people with mental health disabilities or those experiencing a mental health crisis. (2022)
A report that connects the dots on needed reforms for pretrial legal systems to improve fairness and racial justice while serving the interests of public safety and ensuring people appear for trial. (2022)
A report examining the pronounced disparities in Tulsa’s policing practices, including its arrests and uses of force against Black youth and adults, and recommending measures to remedy these injustices. (2021)
A review of the presentation of evidence by the Kentucky Attorney General’s prosecution team to the grand jury, identifying bias and deficiencies, and recommending a new grand jury proceeding and systemic reforms. (2020)
A database of federal funds received by police departments and other information to inform demands for police accountability. (2019 – Relaunched 2022)
An overview of provisions of police union contracts and state Law Enforcement Bills of Rights that hinder police accountability and transparency. (2020)
The report examines the policies and practices that have led to distrust between police and the communities they serve and recommended solutions to address that distrust. LDF served as a reporter for the ABA’s Task Force. (2017)
A report examining the adequacy of the NCPD’s investigation of citizen complaints of police misconduct in North Charleston, South Carolina. (2017)
A briefing paper that examines the political, social, and economic conditions surrounding the life of Michael Brown. (2014)
An issue brief by LDF and a coalition of advocacy groups pushing back against the idea that upping the number of armed police officers in schools keeps students safe. (June 2013 – Rereleased March 2018)
LDF works to shape the narrative on public safety and policing, identifying and pushing back against the influence of anti-Blackness and racial bias in existing narratives of crime, violence, and safety, and advancing frameworks for public safety rooted in the experiences and responsive to the needs of Black communities.
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