Especially in the face of economic crisis, our government should invest in alternatives to incarceration and make prisons options of last – not first – resort.
Our criminal justice system should keep communities safe and treat people fairly, regardless of the color of their skin or the size of their bank account. And in order for our system to do a good job, it must be cost-effective by using our taxpayer dollars and public resources wisely. More»
It is un-American to stand idly by and tolerate our government locking up so many people, treating racial and ethnic minorities unfairly and squandering public resources. More»
Especially in the face of fiscal crises, state governments are making smart investments in alternatives to mass incarceration. The ACLU’s unique and powerful network of state affiliate offices has been working on the frontlines to reduce the number of people behind bars while saving taxpayer dollars. More»
Multimedia
[Infographic] Combating Mass Incarceration - The Facts (2011 infographic): An Infographic on Mass Incarceration: America’s criminal justice system should keep communities safe, treat people fairly, and use fiscal resources wisely. But more Americans are deprived of their liberty than ever before - unfairly and unnecessarily, with no benefit to public safety. Especially in the face of economic crisis, our government should invest in alternatives to incarceration and make prisons options of last – not first – resort.
Just Say No to the War on Drugs (2011 video): Comedian Elon James White takes on America's failed 40-year war on drugs.
Reports
Smart Reform Is Possible: States Reducing Incarceration Rates and Costs While Protecting Communities (2011 Report): Since President Richard Nixon first announced the "War on Drugs" 40 years ago, the United States has adopted "tough on crime" criminal justice policies that have given it the dubious distinction of having the highest incarceration rate in the world.
Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration (2011 Report): The imprisonment of human beings at record levels is both a moral failure and an economic one—especially at a time when more and more Americans are struggling to make ends meet and when state governments confront enormous fiscal crises. This report finds, however, that mass incarceration provides a gigantic windfall for one special interest group—the private prison industry—even as current incarceration levels harm the country as a whole.
Additional Resources
Police Practices: The ACLU works to promote good police practices, which ensure public safety and prevent abuses in encounters between police officers and citizens. Unfortunately, across the nation patterns of racial profiling, the selective enforcement of laws against people of color and disturbing stop-and-frisk policies have resulted in a disproportionate effect on certain communities, with people of color coming in contact with law enforcement and the criminal justice system at far greater rates that white people.
Mass Incarceration Problems (2011 PDF): Our criminal justice system should keep communities safe and treat people fairly, regardless of the color of their skin or the size of their bank account. And in order for our system to do a good job, it must be cost-effective by using our taxpayer dollars and public resources wisely.
Private Prisons: Over the past four decades, imprisonment in the United States has increased explosively, spurred by criminal laws that impose steep sentences and curtail the opportunity to earn probation and parole. This rise in incarceration disproportionately affects people of color, does little to make us safer and is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Unfortunately, we won’t end our addiction to incarceration so long as there are companies that profit from locking people up.
Fair Sentencing Act: In June 2011, the United States Sentencing Commission took a step toward creating fairness in federal sentencing by retroactively applying the new Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) guidelines, which address unfair sentencing disparities for certain offenses, to individuals sentenced before the law was enacted. This decision will help ensure that over 12,000 people — 85 percent of whom are African-Americans — will have the opportunity to have their sentences for crack cocaine offenses reviewed by a federal judge and possibly reduced.
Breaking the Addiction to Incarceration: Weekly Highlights: Across the country, the criminal justice reform conversation is heating up. Each week, we feature our some of the most exciting and relevant news in overincarceration discourse that we’ve spotted from the previous week.
War on Drugs blog series (2011 blog series): June 2011 marked the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's declaration of a "war on drugs" — a war that has cost roughly a trillion dollars, has produced little to no effect on the supply of or demand for drugs in the United States, and has contributed to making America the world's largest incarcerator.