Sentencing Project

Despite the fact that decades have passed since the United States extended civil rights to everyone, regardless of race or ethnicity, racial bias and disparities still plague the American criminal justice system. To address this growing issue, The Sentencing Project is working for an egalitarian criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing laws and practice, and alternatives to incarceration.

Founded in 1986 with the goal to provide defense lawyers with sentencing advocacy training and to reduce the reliance on incarceration, The Sentencing Project has become a renowned leader in the effort to bring national attention to disturbing disparities and trends in the criminal justice system. Their efforts to publicize groundbreaking research, aggressively market media campaigns, and advocate for policy reform has proven to be a successful formula for progress.

The Project’s work focuses on the following issues:

Sentencing Policy

Budget woes across the country have highlighted ongoing debates over whether the United States’ record use of imprisonment is sustainable. According to The Sentencing Project, changes in sentencing law and policy, not increases in crime rates, explain most of the six-fold increase in the national prison population. The Project’s recent publications have covered the impact of mandatory sentencing policies in the United States and racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

Incarceration

The United States is the world’s leader in incarceration with 2.3 million people currently incarcerated in the nation’s prisons or jails. This amounts to a 500% increase over the past thirty years. This directly ties in with the Project’s agenda on sentencing policy and creating not only an egalitarian criminal justice system, but also one that promotes public safety in more constructive ways.

Racial Disparity

The Sentencing Project’s research findings on race and the criminal justice system have received broad attention and helped to stimulate policy discussion about causes and remedies for the problem.  The organization’s 1995 report documenting that 1 in 3 young African American males was under criminal justice supervision led the New York Times to editorialize that “the report should set off alarm bells from the White House to city halls — and help reverse the notion that we can incarcerate our way out of fundamental social problems.”

Drug Policy

Since the 1980s the “war on drugs” has represented the single most significant factor driving the increase in the prison population.  According to The Sentencing Project, at the federal level, persons incarcerated on drug charges account for half of the prison population, while the number of drug offenders incarcerated at the state level has increased thirteen-fold since 1980. Most of these inmates are neither high-level members of drug cartels nor had prior criminal records for violent offenses. The startling increase is a result of federal and state policies that have emphasized law enforcement over prevention and treatment, and the widespread adoption of harsh mandatory sentences for drug offenses at both the state and federal level.
Felony Disenfranchisement

The Project estimates that 5.3 million Americans are denied the right to vote because of laws that prohibit voting by people with felony convictions. Racial disparities in the administration of criminal justice further aggravate the loss of this fundamental part of a democratic life.

Women in the Justice System

While women only represent about 7% of the nation’s prison population, their numbers have been growing at nearly double the rate of men since the 1980s.  Much of this is a result of policies relating to the war on drugs, including the limited programming available to women with substance abuse problems.  Further,  according to The Sentencing Project, women in prison have high rates of physical and sexual abuse, HIV infection, and substance abuse. The Sentencing Project makes available programs, publications, and news releases about policies that can battle this increase and reduce the number of children suffering from their mother’s incarceration.

Collateral Consequences

Felony convictions have collateral consequences. They range from restrictions on employment, receipt of welfare assistance, access to public housing, and eligibility for student loans for higher education. This presents a substantial barrier in reducing recidivism rates as people reenter society.

If you would like to dedicate yourself to changing the way Americans think about crime and punishment, The Sentencing Project should strike a chord. Find out how you can contribute or take action with The Sentencing Project on their website. The Project is a not-for-profit,  research and advocacy organization.