Become a Member

Membership

The objective of Impartial’s membership is to provide people who want to commit to our mission a meaningful way to get involved with our activities. Membership helps us distinguish between visitors and more committed individuals. Impartial wants to support any effort we can for you to make your impact on the criminal justice system. 

At this time, Impartial offers a free membership for you to access research, blogs, stories and other avenues of learning, but in the future there will be much more. We differentiate between college student members and professional members only because there will be opportunities that will be available only to those at universities. 

If you want to make a donation to us while at the same time becoming a member, we would appreciate it, but it is not required to become a member.

Member Benefits

Community

We are building a community. Our community shows appreciation and respect for others’ ideas and interests. We constantly learn from each other because we have such diverse backgrounds, experiences and views of the world. Our common denominator is a better US criminal justice system. There are a million ways to accomplish that, but primarily Impartial chooses to align with criminal justice non-profits that already do the hard work of filling in the gaps and fixing the errors our criminal justice has.

Research content

We are doing our own research internally and invite others to contribute to our repository. We have defined criminal justice sub-topics to narrow the focus. Writers often are drawn to a slice of the criminal justice system and dig deep to expose the facts for you to decide what you believe or should act on. We work with journalists, criminal justice non-profits, lawyers, advocates, former inmates, and others to expose you to things you may not have known. Keeping you well-informed is part of our mission.

Stories

We already have hundreds of stories to share and growing all the time. If you want to know the real story of real people affected by the US criminal justice system, we share them in their own words. From judges to prisoners and everyone in between, we want you to understand what has led them to this point. Inmates that may not be mentally well or reasonably educated, judges that have seen thousands of cases, advocates that see a clear path, and students that will be our future justice leaders have a platform. We all see justice differently and have an opportunity to briefly sit in someone else’s shoes to see what that was like for them. 

Focus group

Impartial is creating a subset of our membership to guide our selection of opportunities. Impartial’s focus group are trusted voices that provide a thoughtful opinion about what we do and how we do it. The collective wisdom of people that appreciate our mission is a vital part of how we stay connected. Volunteer members are invited to this group.

First to see new original prison artwork

We have collected over 1200 pieces of prison artwork, and we are growing every day. Although we typically will exhibit and auction prison artwork, you can see it first. When the artwork is exhibited, we will let you know. When the artwork is going to be auctioned, we will let you know. Exhibiting prison artwork is important to increasing the value of each piece. We want you to be the first to appreciate it. 

We will be continuously adding to the membership benefits as we assess how to best meet your needs/wants. 

Thanks!