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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

Testimony

Testimony in Support of Limiting the Auto-Charging of Youth as Adults in Maryland

February 4, 2026

The Youth Charging Reform Act (SB 323 / HB 409) would limit the practice of automatically charging youth as if they are adults in Maryland.

Related to: Youth Justice, State Advocacy

Maryland’s Youth Charging Reform Act (SB 323 / HB 409) would limit the practice of automatically charging youth as if they are adults in the state. The legislation would remove automatic charging for 14- and 15- year-olds entirely, and limit the number of charges in which 16- and 17-year-olds are automatically charged is if they as adults.

The Sentencing Project provided written testimony in support of this legislation before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.

Read the testimony here.

Related Resources

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Newsletter

Top Trends in Criminal Legal Reform, 2025

At least 10 states adopted criminal legal reforms in 2025 that may contribute to decarceration, guarantee voting rights for legal system-impacted citizens, and advance youth justice reforms.

By Nicole D. Porter on December 30, 2025

Policy Brief

Automatically Charging Youth as Adults

Automatic charging or "auto-charging" is one of several pathways that send people under 18 years old into the adult criminal legal system. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have automatic charging provisions.

By Olivia Naugle on December 11, 2025

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