publications
April 24, 2018
Families and Mass Incarceration
In the United States mothers and fathers go to prison at troubling rates. One of every 12 American children, more than 5.7 million kids under age 18, have experienced parental incarceration at some point during their lives.
publications
March 29, 2018
The Sentencing Project Releases its 2017 Annual Report
Learn more about how our research and analysis in 2017 played a major role in shaping the policy debate around criminal justice reform.
Theresa McIntyre Smith
In 1999, Theresa Smith was arrested at an airport after she met a drug courier in Roy Mercer’s network and according to the government, identified a suitcase containing eleven kilograms of cocaine for the courier. Smith said she had been told by Mercer that the suitcase contained his nieces’ clothes. For this first-time non-violent offense, Smith was sentenced to a ten-year mandatory prison term.
news
February 23, 2018
Justice reform advocates continue legacy of civil rights movement
In honor of Black History Month, The Sentencing Project is shining a spotlight on some of our valued colleagues working to address racial disparities within the criminal justice system.
news
January 22, 2018
Race & Justice News: Kansas Disregards Racial Profiling Complaints
Kansas law enforcement has not confirmed any of the 592 racial profiling complaints filed over the past five years, racial disparities decline in U.S. prisons, and more in Race and Justice News.
Dorothy Gaines
Dorothy Gaines's life changed when Alabama state police raided her home for drugs. Police found no evidence of Gaines having possessed or sold drugs, yet federal prosecutors charged Gaines with drug conspiracy.
publications
January 10, 2018
Oklahoma’s Life-Sentenced Population Rising Faster than National Trends
Oklahoma has increased its life-sentenced population steadily over the past 20 years to the point where one in eight prisoners is now serving life.
publications
June 28, 2017
Incarceration Rates in an International Perspective
A nation’s rate of incarceration is the number of people incarcerated as a proportion of its total population. Internationally, there is broad variation in the degree to which nations incarcerate their citizens, with a nearly 40-fold difference between the highest and lowest rates. The incarceration rate is often interpreted as a measurement of the degree of punitiveness in a society, although it is an imperfect measurement.
Kemba Smith
At 24 years old, Kemba Smith was sentenced to 24.5 years in prison for conspiracy to participate in her boyfriend's drug activities, a non-violent, first-time offense. For years, her parents galvanized a tireless movement seeking clemency for their daughter.
publications
June 26, 2017
Trends in U.S. Corrections
The Sentencing Project's key fact sheet provides a compilation of major developments in the criminal justice system over the past several decades.
news
May 12, 2017
Federal Prison Population will Expand under new DOJ Directive
The Sentencing Project condemns DOJ’s return to harsh enforcement of low-level drug crimes
news
May 09, 2017
Life Without Redemption
When 1 in 7 Americans in prison is serving a life term, it's time to rethink our failed crime policies.
news
May 08, 2017
Number of people serving life in US prisons is surging, new report says
A person in prison who starts his or her sentence in their 30s will, on average, cost the state $1 million per year.
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