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Issues

Learn about our key areas of focus to end mass incarceration and promote racial justice.
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Racial Justice

Ending mass incarceration must include combating racial inequality and disparity.

Sentencing Reform

It's time to take a second look at extreme sentences.

Voting Rights

The criminal justice system shouldn't have a say in our democracy.

Youth Justice

We must end youth incarceration and provide all youth with the support they need to thrive.
Featured Campaign

Second Look Network

Ending mass incarceration requires taking a second look at extreme sentences. Learn more about our coalition of legal professionals providing direct representation to incarcerated individuals seeking relief from lengthy or unfair sentences.
Advocacy

The Sentencing Project is a leading voice for criminal legal reform.
Advocacy overview
Our Work

Explore our work at the national, state, and local level to promote a fair and effective criminal legal system.

Second Look Network

The Network serves, connects, and empowers legal advocates across the country to bring people serving excessive and unfair prison sentences home.

Get Involved

Changing laws and policies to end mass incarceration require a mass movement. Here are ways you can take action.
Featured Campaign

50 Years and a Wake Up

This year marks the 50th year since the U.S. prison population began its unprecedented surge. Partner with us to end mass incarceration!
Research

Explore our publications, fact sheets, data & more.
Overview
Growth in Mass Incarceration

The United States is the world’s leader in incarceration. Get the facts and statistics on trends in U.S. incarceration.

U.S. Criminal Justice Data

View state-level data to provide a snapshot of key indicators of mass incarceration's impact in the United States

Detailed Data Tool

Compare state-level incarceration data for youth and adults with this expanded data set

Resource Library

Search important resources published by The Sentencing Project, including research publications, advocacy briefs, webinars, and more
Featured Publication

One in Five

One in five Black men born in 2001 is likely to experience imprisonment within their lifetime. Our four-part “One in Five” series examines racial inequities in America’s criminal legal system, as well as highlights promising reforms.
- Glossary of Criminal Justice Terms

Events

The Sentencing Project’s staff give presentations, attend conferences, and participate in public forums on our issues across the country. Find out when we will be in your area.

Webinar

The Eugenic Origins of Three Strikes Laws

April 24, 2025 at 2:00pm ET: Join The Sentencing Project for a webinar as we discuss the relationship between the American eugenics movement and “habitual offender” laws, the barriers these laws continue to impose, their disproportionate impact on Black and Brown communities, and how attorneys have utilized the truth of the eugenics movement to continue advocating for their client’s rights to lesser sentences and freedom.

Register

Event

Decarceration 2.0: Charting New Strategies on Prison Population Reductions and Closures

Wednesday, May 1 at 5:00 PM CT: Senior Director of Advocacy Nicole D. Porter will join the Wisconsin Justice Initiative to discuss current efforts to reduce the nation’s prison population, the history of incarceration, the political climate impacting the nation’s incarceration rate, and reorienting the criminal legal system away from punitiveness toward fairness.

Register