Tackling Mass Incarceration Requires More Than Freeing Nonviolent Drug Offenders
A new report emphasizes that the U.S. would still have a very high incarceration rate even if all drug war prisoners were released.
Mass incarceration
Pennsylvania Homeless Man Spared Felony Charge for 43-Cent Misunderstanding
However, the cruel policy that threatened him with years in jail remains in place.
Pennsylvania Could Put a Homeless Man in Prison Over 43 Cents
Overzealous three-strikes laws claim another victim.
The Pandemic Showed Home Detention Works
In the right circumstances, home detention is cheaper and more effective than prison.
What Happened When Life Sentences Got Out of Control
The prisons are filled with aging inmates who no longer pose a public threat.
Study: Democratic Governors Feed the Prison-Industrial Complex
Electorally vulnerable Democratic governors have historically been tougher on crime than Republicans.
U.S. Incarcerated Population Dropped Below 2 Million Last Year For First Time Since 2003
The COVID-19 pandemic drove an unprecedented drop in incarceration, a new study finds, but the authors warn it could bounce right back.
U.S. Incarceration Rate Fell Last Year to Lowest Level Since 1994
Total prison population, imprisonment rates, and racial disparities in incarceration all continued their slide.
Debate's Best Moment: Trump and Biden Bragging on Prison Reform
The U.S. incarceration rate peaked in 2008, but it's good to see two "law and order" candidates talking about clemency.
Prison by Any Other Name
State involvement in people's lives—even "for their own good"—ends up becoming a backdoor way of policing and control.
Trump Claims Biden Called Black Americans 'Superpredators.' That Was Hillary Clinton.
Joe Biden has said plenty of regrettable things about criminal justice, but that wasn't one of them.
The RNC Can't Figure Out Where It Stands on Criminal Justice Reform
Sen. Tim Scott (R–S.C.) criticizes Joe Biden's record on mass incarceration.
Kamala Harris: Drug Warrior, Vice Cop, Draconian Prosecutor
Biden picked a V.P. candidate whose record on police and criminal justice reform is as terrible as his own.
Tear Down America's Immigrant Prisons
In the age of coronavirus, they are a danger to the lives of people both inside them and outside.
Texas Will No Longer Send People to Jail for Violating Strict Social Distancing
Gov. Greg Abbott made the change after a Dallas salon owner was jailed for reopening her salon.
Lawmakers Call Out Cuomo and Other Governors for Letting Prisoners Die of COVID-19
Plus: "Karenology," failing fashion brands, and more...
Joe Biden Is Happy To Talk About Michael Bloomberg's Stop-and-Frisk Record Because It Distracts From His Own Terrible Crime Policies
"The policy was abhorrent," Biden said of Bloomberg's stop-and-frisk program. Yes, but so was pretty much every criminal justice policy Biden pushed through the Senate.
Trump Uses Clemency To Help Drug War Victims, Reward GOP Donors, and Spite James Comey
Plus: China boots three reporters, megacities are getting a smaller share of growth than they used to, and Dems gather to debate in Las Vegas..
Florida Prisons Are a Slow-Motion Disaster
"We are a prison system that's overstuffed and under-guarded, and that is a lethal combination of policies," says state Sen. Jeff Brandes.
New York City Council Votes To Build Four New Jails and To Close Notorious Rikers Island
But can the city commit to reducing its jail population—and will Rikers' infamous culture just be transplanted to the new jails?
States Are Easing Arbitrary Licensing Barriers to Work for People With Criminal Records
This year, Mississippi and North Carolina both ditched a vague "good moral character" clause that kept occupational licensing out of reach for people with criminal records.
Felicity Huffman's 14-Day Prison Sentence Is Too Harsh
The U.S. incarcerates people for petty crimes at an alarming rate.
Cory Booker's Slam Against Joe Biden's Criminal Justice Record Shoveled Some More Dirt on the Old Lock 'Em Up Consensus
The climate of opinion has changed so dramatically that Democrats are politically obliged to support reform.
Kamala Harris Hopes You'll Forget Her Record as a Drug Warrior and Draconian Prosecutor
The senator and presidential hopeful went to bat for dirty prosecutors, opposed marijuana legalization, and championed policies that endanger sex workers.
Attorney General Nominee William Barr Defends Long Prison Sentences, But Says He's Open to Reforms
"As a system, it's working," Barr says of the criminal justice system. "It's not predicated on racism."
What Mass Incarceration Looks Like, State By State
The ACLU is releasing reports on what's driving mass incarceration in every state, and how to cut prison populations in each one.
James Comey Has Craptacular Opinions on Mass Incarceration and Prosecutors
The former top G-Man thinks "mass incarceration" is a misnomer and that taking Martha Stewart down was pretty much the work of God.
Explaining His Cannabis Conversion, John Boehner Cites a Marijuana Myth
Contrary to what many supporters of legalization seem to think, prisons are not overflowing with pot smokers busted for possession.
New Jersey Prisons Back Off Ban of The New Jim Crow, But Censorship Behind Bars Is Still Widespread
Texas alone bans 10,000 books, including The Color Purple and Where's Waldo?
Child Sex-Trafficking Victim Sentenced to Nearly Six Years in Prison for Child Sex-Trafficking
Hope Zeferjohn's role was limited to chatting with the "victim"-who was never actually trafficked-on Facebook.
How to Make an Asylum-Seeker Request Her Own Deportation
Brenda Menjivar Guardado is scared to go back to El Salvador, but she's even more afraid of dying in custody.
Why Ending Mass Incarceration Means Locking Up Fewer Violent Criminals: A Conversation with John Pfaff
Author of Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration-and How to Achieve Real Reform talks about why ending the drug war isn't enough.
Don't Like Militarized Police and Mass Incarceration? Blame Progressivism.
Talking about racism won't end these problems