About Priorities Work Resources Get Involved News Search Donate Need Legal Help? English Español Français 中文 Our Mission The Legal Action Center (LAC) uses legal and policy strategies to fight discrimination, build health equity, and restore opportunity for people with arrest and conviction records, substance use disorders, and HIV or AIDS. The Problem Decades of punitive criminal justice and drug policies have led to over-incarceration and failure to invest in community healthcare. The results of these failed policies have devastated lives, communities and perpetuated systemic inequities on a massive scale. Today, 1 in every 3 American adults has a conviction record and the disproportionate impact on low-income individuals of color is unmistakable. Tens of thousands of laws exist to block people with histories of conviction from accessing basic necessities, such as employment, housing and education, essentially sentencing people to a lifetime of poverty. Millions more Americans cannot access or afford the health care they need, and individuals with substance use disorder and mental illness are often criminalized instead of treated due to the lack of affordable, accessible treatment options and discriminatory insurance barriers. LEARN ABOUT OUR PRIORITIES THE FACTS 1in3 ADULTS That's 70 million adults in the US who have a conviction record. 44 THOUSAND Collateral consequences, which punish individuals long after conviction, have been documented. 130 INDIVIDUALS More than 130 people die each day from opioid-related overdose. 5 MILLION Over 5 million Americans cannot vote due to felony disenfranchisement. Our Vision LAC seeks to end punitive responses to health conditions like addiction, mental illness, and HIV or AIDS, and to create equitable access to affordable, quality treatment. We envision a society that upholds the civil rights of all individuals, regardless of their history of justice involvement or medical condition. And we aim to dismantle the historic and persistent impact of systemic racism that has fueled mass incarceration and disparate community health systems. MAKING OUR VISION A REALITY Our Approach Since our founding in 1973, LAC has utilized a multi-pronged approach to achieving our mission, which includes: direct legal services, impact litigation, policy advocacy, education and training, and coalition-building. Our free legal services are offered through our New York City office to individuals who have arrest or conviction records, substance use disorders, HIV, or AIDS and face discrimination in health care, employment, housing, education, and more. Our impact litigation establishes important precedents to defend the civil rights of our constituents on a broader scale. Similarly, our policy advocacy at the national, state, and local levels helps to protect access to health care, opportunity, and justice for all. And all our work is interconnected - our work with individuals informs our advocacy priorities, while our movement with partners and policy-makers helps to elevate the services and resources we are able to provide. LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT WE DO Action is our middle name. Take action today and join LAC in fighting discrimination, building health equity, and restoring opportunities in a variety of ways. GET INVOLVED New York Office 225 Varick St, 4th Floor New York, NY 10014 T (212) 243-1313 F (212) 675-0286 Washington DC Office 810 1st Street, NE, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20002 T (202) 544-5478 F (202) 544-5712 Need Legal Help Donate Join Our Team Contact Us Online Shop FAQs Follow Newsletter Stay up to date on the latest in health and justice and get the inside scoop on what LAC is doing to make a change by subscribing to our newsletter today. Email By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Legal Action Center, Legal Action Center, 225 Varick Street, Suite 402, New York, NY, 10014, US, http://www.lac.org. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact. SUBSCRIBE © 2020 Legal Action Center. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy. Credits. Reproduction & Distribution Policy. Financials.