From Prison Policy Initiative:
In this year’s guide to winnable criminal justice reforms, we’ve added new information about parole reform around the country and updated all of our sections with new example bills and resources where you can learn more about the wide range of reforms we have seen across the country in recent years. While this briefing is not intended to be a comprehensive platform, we’ve curated this list to offer policymakers and advocates straightforward solutions that would have the greatest impact on reducing incarceration and reversing harms experienced by people impacted by the criminal legal system, without further investments in that system.
This year’s guide comes at a time when hard-won victories in criminal legal system reform are under coordinated attack by a presidential administration and Congress, as well as governors and state legislators of both political parties, that are hellbent on returning to the failed “tough-on-crime” policies that defined the 1990s. Advocates around the country have been working tirelessly to beat back this unrelenting tide of rollbacks that would worsen mass incarceration. For that reason, we’ve also included some talking points to use to fight against these regressive policies that threaten to undo decades of work by advocates.
Because each state’s criminal legal system varies so much — from law and procedures, the data collected, and even how the same words are defined — it can be difficult to apply lessons from other states to the same problem in one’s own. This guide is designed to facilitate the sharing of ideas and information across states. That said, while we point to multiple bills, model legislation, and regulations in this document, we also recognize that many of these examples reflect compromise and could be strengthened or made more transformative. This information is intended to serve as a resource as you determine which problems are a priority in your state and which lessons from elsewhere are most useful.
Continue reading the guide here.
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