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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

America’s 50-year experiment with mass incarceration has been a profound moral and policy failure. 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

Advocacy Letter

Groups Urge Illinois Governor to Support Legislation Expanding Civic Access to Incarcerated People

May 5, 2025

Advocacy groups urged Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to support Senate Bill 1733, the Reintegration and Civic Empowerment (RACE) Act.

Related to: Voting Rights, State Advocacy

The Sentencing Project joined state and national organizations in submitting a letter to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in support of Senate Bill 1733, the Reintegration and Civic Empowerment (RACE) Act, which would expand voting rights and civic access to incarcerated Illinoisans. The bill would restore voting rights to all people in prison 14 days after incarceration, and it expands civics classes so that more people in prison have access to them.

Read the full letter here.

Related Resources

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Fact Sheet

Incarcerated Women and Girls

Research on female incarceration is critical to understanding the full consequences of mass incarceration and to unraveling the policies and practices that lead to their criminalization. The female incarcerated population stands over seven times as high than in 1980.

By Kristen M. Budd, Ph.D., Dinesh Napal and Joshua Rovner on December 4, 2025

Policy Brief

Youth Justice by the Numbers

Between 2000 and 2023, youth incarceration fell by almost 75%. However, racial and ethnic disparities in youth incarceration and sentencing persist amidst overall declines in youth arrests and incarceration.

By Joshua Rovner on November 20, 2025

Advocacy Letter

Letter to Pennsylvania House Children and Youth Committee in Support of Expanding Diversion

The Sentencing Project urges the passage of HB 144, which would expand access to diversion, requiring diversion when a youth is arrested for a first or second-time misdemeanor offense, with some exceptions.

By Olivia Naugle on November 17, 2025