The New Press

Established in 1990 as an alternative to large, commercial publishers, The New Press is a nonprofit publishing house operated in the public interest. Committed to publishing innovative works of educational, cultural, and community value that may be deemed insufficiently profitable by commercial publishers, the New Press aims to provide underrepresented viewpoints to leverage social change.

The New Press is currently involved in two Art for Justice Activating Art and Advocacy grants. First, Mural Arts and Fair and Just Prosecution will hire justice-involved artists to create a collection of 10 original works of art for future publication with the New Press. The book will highlight the unique perspectives and experiences of a range of visionary locally elected prosecutors working to reimagine the role of the prosecutor, shrink the legal system and build safer, healthier and fairer communities. Alongside the book and a variety of accompanying media, justice-involved artists will offer creative interpretations of a “portrait” for each featured district attorney. The project will put justice-involved artists at the heart of a national dialogue about a new vision for our legal system.

Second, the New Press and Fair and Just Prosecution will highlight the perspectives and experiences of visionary local elected prosecutors reimagining their roles, shrinking the legal system and building safer, healthier and more equitable communities through a book of a dozen first-person profiles. They will interview emerging leaders of national prominence who have brought unprecedented diversity to the field through their identities and unconventional backgrounds, and tenured prosecutors whose perspectives have evolved through their careers.

With previous Art for Justice support, New Press has advanced the publication of a series of books on mass incarceration that address any of the four key strategies of the Art for Justice Fund: keeping people out of jail and prison; shortening sentences; promoting reentry; and changing the narrative through art. It also partnered with the Pretrial Justice Institute and We Got Us Now to provide copies of New Press books for their future. And shared 2,500 copies of various criminal justice titles for at least 12 Art for Justice Fund grantee organizations across the United States. By sharing these books, New Press hopes to encourage dialogues about criminal justice reform.

The New Press is actively working on a large volume of books on topics related to criminal justice reform and written by people of color and other underrepresented groups, doing their part in the continued fight for criminal justice reform in the United States and across the globe.