About Us
The Sentencing Project advocates for effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice.
The U.S. prison population has grown nearly 500% in the past 50 years – not because of higher crime rates but because of policy decisions to lengthen prison sentences and expand punishments. Mass incarceration, however, is not an effective means of achieving safety. Instead, more public investments in community-based programs that support vulnerable youth, treat mental illness and substance use disorders, interrupt violence, and expand the social safety net can meaningfully improve lives and help prevent harm.
In our work to build just and safe communities, The Sentencing Project conducts national and state-specific research, communications, and advocacy.
Our Mission
The Sentencing Project advocates for effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice.
Our Vision
We envision free, equitable, and thriving communities supported by a transformed legal system that upholds justice and human dignity.
Our Values
We value advancing justice, equity, freedom, and safety for the world within a collaborative community that fosters empathy, integrity, learning, and respect.
Our Priorities
We seek to center the leadership, voices, vision, and experience of people directly affected by mass incarceration to make the rationale for systemic change vivid, credible, and compelling.
We promote racial justice by addressing the cornerstones of the criminal legal system that act to undermine the power of the Black community through policies that draw Black Americans and immigrants into the criminal legal system where they are incapacitated and disenfranchised for years.
We explore the causes and impacts of mass incarceration and widely communicate our research findings to better inform the public debate around criminal legal reform. Our policy recommendations and advocacy goals emphasize reducing incarceration, including immigrant detention, ending extreme sentences, expanding voting rights to citizens with felony convictions, protecting youth in the justice system, and supporting the successful reentry of people leaving incarceration.
Our commitment to racial justice
We recognize that ending both mass incarceration and the ineffectiveness of our current criminal legal system cannot be achieved without addressing the rampant racism that supports it. This racism costs lives, inflicts atrocities, and prevents the United States from functioning as a true democracy.
The Sentencing Project’s expert research and advocacy guides the movement to end mass incarceration, pushing it to confront the most deep-seated mythologies about crime and punishment. I am proud to lead The Sentencing Project’s incredible staff through the next phase of the organization’s development and vision for a more just world.
Get Involved
Changing laws and policies to end mass incarceration require a mass movement. Your voice is vital to making a difference to the individuals, families, and communities impacted by mass incarceration.
Donate
Join us in the fight! Support The Sentencing Project with a tax-deductible contribution and help us work for a fair and effective criminal justice system.
