Jay-Z & Meek Mill Launch Criminal Justice Reform Organization

They both grew up in impoverished communities riddled with drugs and crime. And on Wednesday, rappers Jay-Z and Meek Mill announced they are forming a criminal justice reform organization that will lobby to change 'the laws, policies, and practices that perpetuate injustice.'

At a press conference in New York, Jay-Z, 49, explained: 'We want to be very clear. If someone commits a crime they should go to jail. But these things are just disproportionate and the whole world knows it.'

'These things' referred to current probation and parole practices that the group, named Reform Alliance, says imprisons offenders in a revolving door of incarceration and probation.


The hip hop stars were joined by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Michael Rubin, co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, and Brooklyn Nets co-owner Clara Wu Tsai as well as Van Jones, a CNN host and activist who will lead the Reform Alliance.