Criminal Justice Reform

Issues:

• America has 5% of the world's population but incarcerates 25% of its population.

• In 1974 we spent 7.4 billion on jails and prisons, in 2015 we spent 87 billion, an increase of 1000%.

• In 1972 only 200,000 people were incarcerated, today 2.2 million people are incarcerated. 

• Hispanics and African Americans makeup approximately 32% of the population in the US, however make up 56% of people incarcerated in 2015, if they were incarcerated at the same rate as White Americans, prisons and jail populations would be down by about 40%.

​

Solutions:

We must focus on ending mass incarceration, challenge excessive punishments, advocate for parole and provide re-entry support for all and advance systemic reform via education, narrative work, and research. We are against the death penalty. We believe in challenging abusive punishment for children who end up in adult prison. We believe in challenging wrongful convictions by exposing prosecutorial misconduct, police misconduct, and challenging faulty forensic testimony. We believe in having parole reform, challenging mandatory minimum sentences, and reforming the collateral consequences families and communities of incarceration face. We believe in investigating and exposing abusive and dangerous prison conditions. We advocate for educational and justice reform opportunities during time being served.