Atlas Network’s quarterly review of the worldwide freedom movement SPRING 2018REMOVINGROADBLOCKSHOW 10 U.S. THINK TANKS ARE GETTING CRIMINAL JUSTICE RIGHTBY AJ SKIERAHIGHLIGHTS FROM ASIA LIBERTY FORUM 2018THE GIBBS FELLOWS SPOTLIGHT: STORIES FROM NEPAL, INDONESIA, UKRAINEREDEMPTION IMPACT CASE STUDY: IMANIFESTO IS GHANA’S BAROMETER OF LEGITIMACY FOR THE MASSEStoINCREMENTALISM or DYNAMITE?BY ROBERT GUEST, FOREIGN EDITOR, THE ECONOMISTPhoto credit: Illinois Policy InstituteFreedom’s Champion | Spring 20182TABLE OF CONTENTSFREEDOM’S CHAMPIONIncrementalism or dynamite? By Robert GuestForeign Editor of The Economist and At-las Network’s 2018 Europe Liberty Forum Keynote Speaker, Robert Guest, examines the question of whether it is better to seek ideological purity or pragmatic incremen-talism in this opinion piece written exclu-sively for Freedom’s Champion. He writes, “…it worries me that the atmosphere in so many countries today has recently become one of intense hostility to incrementalism.” Read Guest’s full piece on page 20.20Removing roadblocks to redemption: How 10 U.S. think tanks are getting criminal justice right By AJ SkieraOn the cover: In 2017, Illinois single mom Lisa Creason achieved her dream of working as a registered nurse with the help of the Illinois Policy Institute (Photo Credit: Illinois Policy Institute). This is just one example of how sev-eral of Atlas Network’s U.S. partners are putting forth both research and action to bring much-needed criminal justice reform to a country that has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, yet nearly 25 percent of the world’s prison population. Page 6.064 Atlas Network’s Vision, Mission, Strategy 5 Message from the CEO 14 This Quarter in World1017 Supporter Spotlight: Larry Janesky 30 Highlights from Asia Liberty Forum 201832 Around the Network35 Connect With Atlas Network Photo credit: Sylvie Bouchard / Shutterstock.comAtlas Network’s quarterly review of the worldwide freedom movement3Atlas Network’s quarterly review of the worldwide freedom movementSPRING 2018Impact Case Study: IMANIFesto is Ghana’s barometer of legitimacy for the massesUnrealistic campaign promises are a staple in elections across the world, and nowhere has that been truer than in Ghana – until now. Accra-based IMANI Center for Pol-icy and Education launched its IMANIFesto Campaign, which estimated the costs and rated the feasibility of all campaign promises made by the country’s major politi-cal parties. Learn how the Templeton Freedom Award Fi-nalist IMANI Center transformed the 2016 Parliamentary Election into one based not on political promises but on policy issues on page 24.2426The Gibbs Fellow Spotlight: Stories from Nepal, Indonesia, Ukraine By Andriy Shpakov, Sara Sihaloho, and Akash ShresthaSince 2016, Alan Gibbs has provided the majority of funding for Atlas Network’s flagship Think Tank MBA program, including the full-sponsorship of three ex-ceptional think tank professionals who are honored as Gibbs Fellows. The 2017 class of Gibbs Fellows were Andriy Shpakov, executive director of EasyBusi-ness (Ukraine); Sara Sihaloho, general manager of the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (Indonesia); and Akash Shrestha, research coordinator at Samrid-dhi Foundation (Nepal). We recently caught up with each to learn more about the work they are doing and how the Gibbs Fellowship helped them achieve greater impact. Page 26.Inside Atlas Network: Atlas Network is moving!Atlas Network is moving across the river to Arlington, Va. in May 2018. The lease in our current space is ex-piring and our organizational growth in the last five years warrants a move to larger, more efficient space. Making Arlington, Va. our new home will have many advantages. We also think the name of our new build-ing, Two Liberty Center, is a nice touch of serendipity! Learn more on page 34.34ABOUT ATLAS NETWORK Washington-based Atlas Network is a nonprofit organi-zation that strengthens the worldwide freedom move-ment by connecting more than 475 independent part-ners in over 90 countries that share the vision of a free, prosperous, and peaceful world where limited govern-ments defend the rule of law, private property, and free markets. AtlasNetwork.org4AtlasNetwork.orgVision: Atlas Network’s vision is a free, prosperous, and peaceful world where limited governments defend the rule of law, private property, and free markets.Mission: Atlas Network is the only global organization that supports and empowers a professional associ-ation of more than 475 independent organizations in over 90 countries to achieve victories for liberty.Strategy: Atlas Network serves as the freedom movement’s center of gravity by providing our partners with coaching, competitive grant and award opportunities, and occasions to celebrate high-impact successes.Atlas Network has been a four-star Charity Navigator member since 2008.Atlas Network is a GuideStar Exchange Gold Participant.Atlas Network’s donation payment processor is certified to PCI Service Provider Level 1, the most stringent level of certification available.Freedom’s Champion: An Atlas Network Publication Editor-in-Chief Daniel Anthony | Graphic Designer Teresa O’Leary | Assistant Editors AJ Skiera, Austin Pickrell, Grace Hayes5{ MESSAGE FROM THE CEO }I’m writing this message aboard a long flight home from Jakarta follow-ing Atlas Network’s Asia Liberty Forum – 31,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean and with airplane-noise hum giving a strange sense of solitude. Up here, it’s easy to be removed from the intense partisanship that enve-lopes discussions of public policies back near our headquarters in the Washington D.C. area. Atlas Network is fortunate, of course, to focus on a mission that is long-term in nature, making us – and many of our partners – a counter-weight to the fractious political actors that dominate the news cycle. Our partner network is full of people who seek improvements in policies to improve lives in measurable ways, and they welcome the opportunity to build unusual alliances to achieve good outcomes. Our cover story on progress made on criminal justice reform in the U.S. is a great example. These last days at our Asia Liberty Forum have showcased sever-al other common-sense policy goals that are being pursued by Atlas Network partners who work in good faith to assemble broad coalitions for change. You’ll no doubt be reading about some successes by these partners soon. With 2018 still in its infancy, we have big hopes for what Atlas Network and its partners can achieve this year. I hope readers of Freedom’s Champion will reflect on how this partner network – 483 strong and touching 94 countries as of January 1 – amounts to an incredible asset for changing the world for the better. Brad Lips CEO of Atlas NetworkAtlas Network is fortunate, of course, to focus on a mission that is long-term in nature, making us – and many of our partners – a counter-weight to the fractious political actors that dominate the news cycle. Freedom’s Champion | Spring 20186REMOVING ROADBLOCKS TO REDEMPTION:A just society requires that those who commit crimes stand punishment for their deeds before being allowed to reenter society. Yet, the punishment often doesn’t fit the crime, and even when it does, many are denied the tools to effectively become productive citizens after they’ve paid their debts. It has increasingly become the case in the United States that roadblocks to redemption are created by the very system that seeks to rehabilitate.Several of Atlas Network’s domestic partners are putting forth both research and action to bring much-needed re-form to a country that has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, yet nearly 25 percent of the world’s prison population. Criminal justice in the U.S. has a num-ber of areas where smart reforms can help thousands of people recapture lost economic opportunity and gain a renewed outlook on life. This is the story of what Atlas Network’s partners are doing to advance criminal justice reform in the U.S.Criminal justice reform is a multifaceted issue needing multifaceted solutions. Atlas Network’s partners are le-veraging their comparative advantages to achieve policy reform and improve outcomes of those who go through the correctional system. Identifying areas such as civil forfeiture (or civil asset forfeiture), barriers to prisoner reentry, occupational licensing, coercive plea-bargain-ing, overcriminalization, and sentencing reform, many state-based public policy groups are working to improve their backyards while national organizations advocate change at the highest level.‘POLICING FOR PROFIT:’ CIVIL FORFEITUREThe northern Virginia-based Institute for Justice (IJ) is a national law firm that litigates to limit the size and scope of government power and protect Americans’ econom-ic freedom. Its apparatus has grown considerably since 1991 to encompass strategic research, boots-on-the-ground activism, communications, and legislative out-reach in addition to litigating on behalf of individuals. IJ is widely considered to be a thought leader of civil forfeiture reform.Civil forfeiture allows the government to take and sell one’s property on the mere suspicion that it might be connected to criminal activity and without requiring the individual to be charged with a crime. This troubling practice has created perverse incentives for police de-partments around the country including receiving a por-tion or all of the proceeds from civil forfeiture. Police are given the power to seize property at-will and create an uphill legal battle for those seeking to get it back.IJ provides the most comprehensive guide to civil for-feiture laws and data at the state and federal levels with its flagship publication, Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture, which has become the go-to source for media and policymakers interested in the issue. Since 2010, IJ has brought 18 cases challenging unjust civil forfeitures at the state and federal levels and has filed several amicus briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts to raise awareness about the lack of due process and perverse incentives that drive abuse of civil forfeiture. “Over the past seven years, IJ has secured the return of at least $4.7 million worth of unjustly seized property for our clients,” said Lisa Knepper, IJ’s director of stra-tegic research. “And just since 2014, 25 states and the District of Columbia have enacted forfeiture reforms legislatively. These include the abolition of civil forfei-ture in New Mexico, the elimination of the profit incen-tive in D.C. and New Mexico, improved transparency in Arizona and Colorado and other states, and stronger procedural protections in a number of states.”How 10 U.S. think tanks are getting criminal justice right By: AJ SkieraAtlas Network’s quarterly review of the worldwide freedom movement7The government should not be able to use civil forfeiture to take money from people who have done nothing wrong. Yet that is exactly what is the IRS did to Terry Dehko and his daughter Sandy Thom-as, the owners of Schott’s Supermarket, a small gro-cery store in Fraser, Michi-gan—until the Institute for Justice helped get it back.Its list of victories does not stop there. Through a class-action lawsuit, IJ ended several troublesome as-pects of Philadelphia’s abuse of civil forfeiture that reg-ularly harmed innocent citizens. The pressure IJ built through litigation, research, and communications also forced the IRS to roll back its forfeiture program after exposing the agency’s abuse of so-called “structuring laws” to seize the bank accounts of law-abiding small business owners. Citing IJ research, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued a concurring opinion in 2017 questioning whether civil forfeiture can be recon-ciled with the Constitution. IJ cases and research were also cited in reports made by inspectors general for the Departments of Justice and Treasury, who warned of the high risk of abuse.With more than 250 editorials calling for the demise of civil forfeiture being published since 2014, IJ’s End For-feiture initiative has been driving the national conversa-tion on the issue. It has received feature coverage from high-profile outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CBS Evening News, and HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”“IJ’s goal is to end civil forfeiture,” continued Knep-per. “No one should lose their cash, car, home or oth-er property without being convicted of a crime, and law enforcement should not have a financial incentive to pursue property. Short of abolishing civil forfeiture, our work aims to eliminate the profit incentive, to strengthen property owners’ rights when challenging unjust forfei-tures, and to achieve meaningful transparency and ac-countability for forfeiture programs.”Two other nationally minded organizations advocating reform in civil forfeiture are the Charles Koch Foundation (CKF) and Charles Koch Institute (CKI). Both organiza-tions focus on five specific areas of the criminal justice system they deem most in need of reform: sentencing, second chances, overcriminalization, civil forfeiture, and policing practices.“The first step to any reform is identifying the problems in the status quo and developing solutions,” said Jordan Richardson, attorney and senior policy analyst at CKI. “To that end, the Charles Koch Foundation awarded a grant to the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Ar-izona State University to publish a groundbreaking new report titled Reforming Criminal Justice. With contribu-tions from over 120 of the nation’s leading academics, the four-volume publication contains detailed analysis and specific policy proposals for over 57 different is-sues in the criminal justice system. Already, academics and policymakers across the country are using this un-rivaled publication to help educate about the next steps for reform.”CKF and CKI seek to “identify the best ideas that can improve public safety and promote individual rights and human dignity, while making victims whole,” Rich-ardson continued. “We seek to advance these goals by providing opportunities for open dialogue, through public forums and events, research, and writing, as well as supporting academic research to bring solutions for long-term change.”Photo credit: Institute for Justice (IJ)Freedom’s Champion | Spring 20188In their work, CKF and CKI court traditional and nontradi-tional allies alike by hosting events such as the “Advanc-ing Justice Summit: An Agenda for Human Dignity and Public Safety,” where nearly 400 leading academics, law enforcement professionals, policy makers, think tank scholars, community advocates, and other influenc-ers convened to discuss the most urgent priorities for criminal justice and policing reform. Earlier in 2017, CKI hosted an event at the multimedia festival SXSW with award-winning rapper Snoop Dogg to discuss the need for sentencing reform.“Perhaps what is most important to conservatives is that criminal justice reform is about human dignity, the idea that no one should be defined by their worst day, and the hope for redemption and a second chance,” Richardson said. “At least 95 percent of all state prisoners will be released from prison at some point. It makes sense to ensure that our corrections system will set them up for success.”OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO OPPORTUNITY FOR EX-OFFENDERSUpholding the rule of law requires that those who com-mit crimes be appropriately punished for their actions. Oftentimes, though, there are barriers for formerly incar-cerated individuals to effectively reenter society after proper penance has been paid. Many state-based public policy groups are working to remove the barriers to pris-oner reentry so that ex-offenders can have a renewed and revitalized outlook on life.GeorgiaThe Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO)’s Prisoner Re-entry Initiative was a finalist for the Templeton Freedom Award in 2017. The project included a working group of experts who made heavily vetted criminal justice reform recommendations, which were subsequently imple-mented by the state. A parallel campaign called, “Hiring Well, Doing Good” challenges community stakeholders and businesses to create opportunities for ex-offend-ers to find employment. GCO aims to break the cycle of poverty and ensure that every Georgian has the greatest opportunity for success.“A criminal record often presents employment barriers for returning citizens, resulting in high rates of recidi-vism,” said Randy Hicks, president and chief executive officer of GCO. “Because work is so much more than a paycheck, our initiatives aim to pave the way for ex-of-fenders to successfully rejoin society and find purpose and dignity, starting with a stable job.” The Charles Koch Institute hosted a criminal justice reform panel at SXSW 2017 in Austin, Texas, featuring Snoop Dogg.Continued on page 10Photo credit: Charles Koch Institute (CKI)Atlas Network’s quarterly review of the worldwide freedom movement9lights, camera,Your brand. Your story. Your films.LIBERTY!ATLASNETWORK.ORG/LCLLAMAY 3 - 6, 2018. 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