In the July issue of Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, The Sentencing Project's Research Analyst Ashley Nellis coauthors an article with Iowa Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) Coordinator Brad Richardson on various policies and practices that contribute to minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system, along with suggesting strategies for reform.

"Almost 10 percent of young African American men are behind bars. Many legal scholars argue that the prison system locks those men out of civic life long after time served -- and that the social fabric of all American communities suffers as a result," NPR's Talk of the Nation reports. Guests include Charlayne Hunter-Gault, correspondent, NPR; Charles Blow, columnist, New York Times; Dwayne Betts, spokesperson, Campaign For Youth Justice; Michelle Alexander, author, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness" 

Washington Post columnist Joe Davidson writes about the long-term consequences of criminal justice policy bias brought out by a class-action suit against the U.S. Census Bureau.

Following a peaceful protest which resulted in a misdemeanor charge that was eventually dropped, a Michigan woman found that she was unable to get a job with the U.S. Census for having "a positive match with a criminal history record maintained by the FBI."

"We like to think that you are innocent until proven guilty in our system, but using an arrest record turns that around on its head," stated Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project.

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"The Obama administration has the perfect opportunity to move forward on prison reform," writes Craig Welkener of the Justice Fellowship on AOL News. "Economic pressures are making over-criminalization fiscally unfeasible, and research-driven solutions are available. Moral issues like prison rape are crystal clear. President Obama can credibly use the bully pulpit to point out what the American criminal justice system must learn: Compassion is not the enemy of public safety."