Toni Newman

Writer, law school student and author, 'I Rise: The Transformation of Toni Newman'

Today only two of my 13 closest sisters are alive. I close my eyes and see them standing next to me on the street, proud of who they are and never ashamed of their identity. I applaud my fallen sisters for showing me the way with the grace of God.

Gwendolyn Ann Smith

Founder, Transgender Day of Remembrance; managing editor, genderfork.com

Since Rita Hester's murder, hundreds of others have been murdered. This year more than 200 people have died at the hand of anti-transgender violence. Every two weeks, on average, someone is murdered in the United States in an act of anti-transgender violence.

Steve Drizin

Clinical law professor, Northwestern University School of Law

In Cook County's juvenile false confession cases, police officers and prosecutors have taken confession contamination to a new level. Not only did they feed facts to suspects, they scripted entire narratives for them.

Sen. Claire McCaskill

U.S. Senator from Missouri

A lot has to happen between now and then -- but when President Obama signs this year's annual defense bill, I'm confident that it will be a watershed moment for justice in America's Armed Forces. We're on the cusp of legislative reforms that are nothing short of historic.

Rev. Miller Jen Hoffman

Pastor, Open Door Metropolitan Community Church, Boyds, Md.

It occurs in a month full of and surrounded by relevant observances and seasons: All Saints and All Souls, when we remember the dead; Thanksgiving, when we express gratitude; Advent, when some of us anticipate Word-made-flesh.

Gabriel Sayegh

New York State Director, Drug Policy Alliance

We want to make sure that new approach is informed by everyday New Yorkers, especially those of us who are targets of drug war-related policing and violence.

Rob Kampia

Executive director, Marijuana Policy Project

Now that support for making marijuana legal has reached 58 percent nationwide, opponents of marijuana legalization are now trotting out arguments that were only used in impolite company years ago.

Nathan M. Schaefer

Executive Director, Empire State Pride Agenda

This summer alone, we saw numerous attacks on trans New Yorkers, including the murder of 21-year-old Islan Nettles in Harlem. We must do more to end this hate.

John W. Whitehead

Attorney, President of The Rutherford Institute, and author of 'A Government of Wolves'

While recycling unused military equipment might sound thrifty and practical, the ramifications are proving to be far more dangerous and deadly.

Robert Gangi

Director, Police Reform Organizing Project, Urban Justice Center

Reforms are available to the de Blasio administration that can not only effectively correct police practices that victimize people unjustly but have the added appeal of being easy political lifts.

Mark Godsey

Director, Ohio Innocence Project; Carmichael Professor of Law, University of Cincinnati College of Law

Today in Texas, four wrongfully convicted women--known as the "San Antonio Four"--had their convictions overturned and were freed.

Matthew Ebert

Writer, Activist, Rancher

I want to tell you about my friend Eli. Heʼs 22; he's been incarcerated since he was 20, for theft and credit card and check fraud; and heʼll get out in 2016, when he's 25. Now heʼll get out HIV-positive. Eli reminds me of me.

David Protess

President, Chicago Innocence Project

When powerful evidence showed that an Oklahoma State University hoops star had been wrongfully convicted of rape, Judge Phillip Corley had a chance to blow the whistle. Instead, he blew the call.

Ken Toltz

Businessman, political activist and Founder of Safe Campus Colorado

As we mark this 50th anniversary of JFK's presidency cut short, we might also pause and consider Caroline Kennedy as the six-year-old daughter and 11-year-old niece of gun violence victims.

Quora

Connecting you to everything you want to know about

For those of you who are so outraged at this, consider this scenario: the cop doesn't shoot because the guy bearing the AK-47 is only 13 years old and is in a neighborhood not rife with crime. Then, the cop gets killed, because the AK-47 is a real one.

David A. Love

Executive Director, Witness to Innocence

It was a long time coming, but finally America has reached a milestone in the area of criminal justice. In Texas, a former D.A. has made history by becoming the first prosecutor in U.S. to suffer criminal punishment for failing to turn over exculpatory evidence.

DJ Jaffe

Executive Director, Mental Illness Policy Org

Fortunately, law enforcement leaders around the country are starting to fight back in an attempt to return care and treatment of the seriously ill to mental health departments.