{"id":46391,"date":"2022-02-15T18:14:19","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T23:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/criminal-law-reform"},"modified":"2025-06-17T14:58:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T18:58:18","slug":"criminal-law-reform","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/criminal-law-reform","title":{"rendered":"Criminal Law Reform"},"parent":0,"menu_order":99,"template":"","class_list":["post-46391","issue","type-issue","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"featured-image":210625,"intro":"The Criminal Law Reform Project advocates for the constitutional and civil rights of those impacted by the criminal legal system.","what-you-need-to-know":[{"highlighted":"500%","description":"The federal prison population has increased by almost 500 percent in the last 40 years."},{"highlighted":"3.73","description":"In the United States, a Black person is 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person is, despite approximately equal rates of use."},{"highlighted":"3,278 ","description":"At least 3,278 people were serving life sentences without parole for drug, property, and other nonviolent crimes in 2012."}],"promo":{"description":"","button":"","url":""},"faq":{"description":"","faq-items":[{"title":"What are common problems in the criminal legal system?","content":"<ul>\r\n \t<li>Black people are almost <a href=\"https:\/\/mappingpoliceviolence.org\/?year=2023&amp;location=the+U.S.&amp;race=people&amp;chart=RateByRace\">three times more<\/a> likely to be killed by police than white people in the U.S. In 2023, officers killed over <a href=\"https:\/\/mappingpoliceviolence.org\/?year=2023&amp;location=the+U.S.&amp;race=people&amp;chart=TotalPoliceKillings\">1,250 civilians<\/a>. Across the country, racial profiling is a persistent problem, with investigations and studies repeatedly showing police stop and search people based on race and that police use disproportionate force against Black, Latine, and Indigenous people. This results in widespread and preventable harm to people of color.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>People who survive unconstitutional policing encounters must contend with a criminal legal system that, due to its own racial and other biases, wrongfully convicts them or forces them to plead out to charges regardless of guilt because they lack resources or options to fight back.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/criminal-law-reform\/the-size-of-your-wallet-should-never-determine-your-freedom\">Each year<\/a>, more than 10 million people in the U.S are locked into local jails, and, as of 2015, there were roughly 700,000 people locked up on any given day. Most of them have not been convicted of a crime but instead can\u2019t sufficiently afford to pay their way to freedom. Bail systems can result in wealth-based detention that force people who are poorer, often people of color, to remain locked up while awaiting trial.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Nearly 4 million people in the United States are on some form of supervision, like probation or parole. Supervision is promoted as an alternative to incarceration that helps people get back on their feet, but in reality, it drives people into jail and prison, feeding mass incarceration. Supervision requires strict adherence to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewtrusts.org\/en\/research-and-analysis\/issue-briefs\/2023\/03\/for-people-under-probation-conditions-meant-to-support-behavior-change-can-burden-more-than-benefit\"> dozens of wide ranging<\/a>, often vague, and conflicting rules, including paying<a href=\"https:\/\/finesandfeesjusticecenter.org\/articles\/50-state-survey-probation-and-parole-fees\/\"> fines and fees that many people cannot afford<\/a>; attending frequent meetings, which may be far from home or conflict with work or caregiving responsibilities; reporting any address change, even if they are houseless; and staying away from people with criminal records \u2014 even though<a href=\"https:\/\/justicelab.columbia.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/content\/NY%20Parole%20Racial%20Inequities.pdf\"> one in 12 people in the U.S., and one in three Black men<\/a> has a felony conviction.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>"},{"title":"What are focuses for change?","content":"<ul>\r\n \t<li>Police discretion is instrumental in deciding who gets stopped, searched, arrested, and funneled into the criminal legal system; indeed, the United States\u2019 over-incarceration crisis begins at the front end of the system.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Unnecessary pretrial detention and excessive sentences routinely cause injustices and are rooted in the \u201ctough on crime\u201d approach that has proved entirely ineffective at keeping us safe.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>All criminal defendants are constitutionally entitled to effective representation of counsel. Unfortunately, a widespread lack of resources for public defense services too often means that people who cannot afford to hire a lawyer do not receive fair treatment in the legal system.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>People released from jails or prisons are routinely placed on restrictive supervision programs like probation and parole. While these programs were originally intended to facilitate re-entry, they now predominantly set people up for failure and reincarceration.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>"}]},"featured-stories":null,"latest-stories":null,"whats-at-stake":{"title":"What's at Stake","description":"The Criminal Law Reform Project (CLRP) seeks to end criminal justice policies that fuel mass incarceration, over-criminalization, and racial injustice.\r\n\r\nBy fighting for transformational change to policing, pretrial detention, public defense, and probation and parole, CLRP is working to reverse the tide of mass incarceration, advance constitutional rights, shift power to under resourced communities, and to elevate approaches to justice and safety that advance fundamental rights for all\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/other\/aclu-criminal-law-reform-project\">More about the Criminal Law Reform Project<\/a>"},"actions":"","drupal-id":36,"is_hidden_issue":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>American Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Criminal Law Reform Project advocates for the constitutional and civil rights of those impacted by the criminal legal system.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Criminal Law Reform | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Criminal Law Reform Project advocates for the constitutional and civil rights of those impacted by the criminal legal system.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/criminal-law-reform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T18:58:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/criminal-law-reform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/criminal-law-reform\",\"name\":\"Criminal Law Reform | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-15T23:14:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T18:58:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Criminal Law Reform Project advocates for the constitutional and civil rights of those impacted by the criminal legal system.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/criminal-law-reform\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. Our mission is to realize this promise of the United States Constitution for all and expand the reach of its guarantees.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"American Civil Liberties Union","description":"The Criminal Law Reform Project advocates for the constitutional and civil rights of those impacted by the criminal legal system.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Criminal Law Reform | American Civil Liberties Union","og_description":"The Criminal Law Reform Project advocates for the constitutional and civil rights of those impacted by the criminal legal system.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/criminal-law-reform","og_site_name":"American Civil Liberties Union","article_modified_time":"2025-06-17T18:58:18+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@aclu","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/criminal-law-reform","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/criminal-law-reform","name":"Criminal Law Reform | American Civil Liberties Union","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-02-15T23:14:19+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-17T18:58:18+00:00","description":"The Criminal Law Reform Project advocates for the constitutional and civil rights of those impacted by the criminal legal system.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/criminal-law-reform"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/","name":"American Civil Liberties Union","description":"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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