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December 15, 2021

Prison Policy Initiative publishes report on "Winnable criminal justice reforms in 2022"

Naila Awan has authored this new report for the Prison Policy Initiative under the title "Winnable criminal justice reforms in 2022."  Here is its introduction and then links to the eight categories of reform ideas:

This year, we’ve expanded our annual guide on state legislative reforms that we think are ripe for victory. While this briefing is not intended to be a comprehensive platform, we’ve curated this list to offer policymakers and advocates straightforward solutions that would have the greatest impacts without further investments in the carceral system and point to policy reforms that have gained momentum in the past year.  We have focused especially on those reforms that would reduce the number of people needlessly confined in prisons and jails.  And for the first time, we have added some talking points and resources that can be used to push back when carve-outs to criminal justice reforms (that is, categorical exclusions of people who would benefit from reforms) are being discussed.

Because each state’s criminal legal system varies so much — from law and procedures, the data collected, and even how the same words are defined — it can be difficult to apply lessons from other states to the same problem in one’s own.  This guide is designed to facilitate the sharing of ideas and information across states.  That said, while we point to multiple bills, model legislation, and regulations in this document, we also recognize that many of these examples reflect compromise and could be strengthened or made more comprehensive.  This information is intended to serve as a resource as you determine which problems are a priority in your state and which lessons from elsewhere are most useful.

Readers should also note that we made a conscious choice to not include critical reforms that are unique to just a few states, or important reforms for which we don’t yet have enough useful resources to be helpful to most states.  But this guide grows and evolves each year, so we welcome ideas and resources from other advocates and state legislators.

December 15, 2021 at 02:20 PM | Permalink

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