{"id":1120,"date":"2024-07-30T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/?p=1120"},"modified":"2024-07-31T02:43:11","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T02:43:11","slug":"rja-blog-my-experience-in-creating-the-racial-justice-act-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/all\/blog\/rja-blog-my-experience-in-creating-the-racial-justice-act-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"RJA Blog: Designing the Racial Justice Act Tool (July 30, 2024)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By Akhil Raj, lead engineer on the Racial Justice Act Tool<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A year ago, I embarked on an incredible journey that has significantly shaped my professional and personal aspirations. I joined the Paper Prisons team, driven by a passion for justice and a commitment to leveraging technology for societal betterment. My inspiration to do so came even earlier, during my time as a student analyst with the Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) while pursuing my master&#8217;s in computer science at Santa Clara University, where I had the privilege of working alongside dedicated individuals making a profound impact on the lives of people. Witnessing their work deepened my resolve to use my skills for positive change.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After graduating, I was fortunate to continue my work with Professor Colleen Chien and the Paper Prisons team. Our collaboration marked a natural progression in my journey and provided an opportunity to contribute towards the development of the Racial Justice Act (RJA) tool. For me the project was not just about technology; it was about empowering communities, fostering transparency, and promoting racial equity within the justice system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The RJA tool is designed to explore and highlight racial disparities in arrests, court actions, convictions, and sentences across California. We&#8217;ve created a user-friendly website to engage and empower users with this information. My hope is that the RJA tool becomes integral in the fight for a more just society, supporting advocates, policymakers, and community members with clear, data-driven insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Working with the Paper Prisons team has been incredibly rewarding. Each day, I&#8217;m inspired by our collective dedication to making a difference. As we continue refining the RJA tool, I&#8217;m excited about the positive change it can bring. I invite you to explore our website, learn about our work, and join our mission to eradicate racial injustice in the legal system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Akhil Raj, lead engineer on the Racial Justice Act Tool A year ago, I embarked on an incredible journey that has significantly shaped my professional and personal aspirations. I joined the Paper Prisons team, driven by a passion for justice and a commitment to leveraging technology for societal betterment. My inspiration to do so [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-rja-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1246,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions\/1246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paperprisons.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}