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Issues

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

Key Issues

Racial Justice

One in five Black men born in 2001 is likely to experience imprisonment within their lifetime, a decline from one in three for those born in 1981. But pushback from policymakers threatens further advancement.

Get the facts on racial disparities in the criminal legal system in our report, “One in Five: Ending Racial Inequity in Incarceration.”

“What does it say about a society that treats some of its most victimized and vulnerable citizens with so little compassion and mercy? How do we fix such a terrible injustice?”

April Wilkens
April Wilkens
Domestic Violence Advocate and Survivor

Get the Facts

Featured Fact Sheet

Media Guide: 10 Crime Coverage Dos and Don’ts

The Sentencing Project’s new media guide can help media outlets develop coverage that will better inform the public and policymakers on how to pursue the most effective and humane public safety policies.

By Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Ph.D. on

Woman in crowd holding a rainbow flag and wearing a rainbow shawl over her outfit
Policy Brief

Incarcerated LGBTQ+ Adults and Youth

This brief examines the criminalization and over-incarceration of LGBTQ+ people in the United States, highlighting the drivers of overrepresentation and presenting recommendations for reform.

By Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Ph.D. and Emma Stammen on

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 six times higher than in 1980.

By Niki Monazzam and Kristen M. Budd, Ph.D. on

Report

Private Prisons in the United States

Twenty-seven states and the federal government incarcerated 90,873 people in private prisons in 2022, representing 8% of the total state and federal prison population.

By Kristen M. Budd, Ph.D. on

Punished for Presence: Reforming Felony Murder

“Felony murder” laws hold people liable for murder if they participated in a crime that resulted in someone’s death. These laws impose murder sentences on people who did not kill or intend to kill. Thousands of Americans, mostly people of color, will remain behind bars their entire lives based on the extreme sentencing provisions associated with a felony murder conviction.

The Sentencing Project and Fair and Just Prosecution host a discussion about the growing movement to reform felony murder statutes.

Watch the webinar
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