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The Sentencing Project Profile
The Sentencing Project

@SentencingProj

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The Sentencing Project has been working for a fair and effective U.S. legal system since 1986. Join our 50 Years and a Wake Up Campaign:

Washington, D.C.
Joined August 2009
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@SentencingProj
The Sentencing Project
20 days
NEW REPORT: In 2024, an estimated 4M Americans will be ineligible to vote due to a felony conviction. Every citizen, regardless of criminal legal status, should be able to participate in our democracy and have their voices heard. #FreeTheVote
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The Sentencing Project
7 years
A new policy at the Federal Bureau of Prisons would bans all books from being sent into federal facilities from outside sources and require incarcerated individuals to use an ordering system in which they must pay exorbitant prices. via @laurenk_gill
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
Nevada recently enacted a law that automatically restores the voting rights of people upon their release from prison. "It gave me a sense of citizenship. Now, I feel more like a regular person."—Kenneth Dorsey, who recently regained his right to vote.
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3 years
BREAKING: In North Carolina, a state court ruled that ALL formerly incarcerated people have the right to vote. This decision restores voting rights to an estimated 55,000 people on parole or probation for a felony conviction. #FreeTheVote
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The Sentencing Project
8 years
. @POTUS is the first president in decades to leave office with a smaller federal prison population. via @voxdotcom
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The Sentencing Project
8 years
More people with felony convictions are barred from voting in this year's election than any election in US history:
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The Sentencing Project
9 years
. @RandPaul says people shouldn't go to prison for 20 years for youthful, nonviolent mistakes
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
BREAKING: House passes #FarmBill 213-211 with provision to permanently exclude people convicted of certain violent offenses from receiving food stamps.
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
Two friends from Philadelphia are working to reduce the city's recidivism rates by running a pizza shop run exclusively by formerly incarcerated people. "We just want to meet people where they're at and help them along the way." #SecondChanceMonth
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
After 23 years in prison, Tyra Patterson is using her experiences to start a reentry mentoring program & advocate for those impacted by incarceration. "I lost more than half my life to the system. Me giving back is part of my survival," she said.
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The Sentencing Project
8 years
A record 6.1M Americans will be barred from voting in the upcoming election. Here's why:
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
A new @prisonpolicy report found over 540K people who are incarcerated in local jails have not been convicted or sentenced. Many are detained in local jails because they cannot afford to pay the bail set to secure their release.
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The Sentencing Project
2 years
NEW REPORT: Nearly two million people are living in prisons and jails instead of their communities. Compare this figure to the early 1970s when this count was 360,000 people.
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
BREAKING NEWS: Florida voters passed Amendment 4! Nearly one-quarter of the entire disenfranchised population in the U.S will now have the right to vote and will no longer be treated as second class citizens.
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The Sentencing Project
7 years
A record 6.1 million US citizens were barred from voting in the 2016 election. Here's why:
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The Sentencing Project
3 years
NEW REPORT on recidivism shows that people convicted of homicide are extremely unlikely to commit another violent crime after release from prison. It’s time to end the false narrative that people convicted of violent crimes are too dangerous to release!
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The Sentencing Project
7 years
. @ACLU & formerly incarcerated people do get-out-the-vote & voter education ahead of Philly DA primary @phillydotcom
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
Last year, the Philadelphia DA stopped seeking bail for low-level offenses. A recent study found the policy shift has had "no effect on failure to appear [in court], on violent offending or on recidivism." via @samanthamelamed
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
Nevada would become the 15th state to restore full voting rights to people upon their release from prison under recently proposed legislation. The state's disenfranchised rate is the ninth-highest in the nation—with more than 89K people who can't vote.
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The Sentencing Project
7 years
On Tuesday at noon, join us outside @TheJusticeDept to protest AG Jeff Sessions' decision to reignite the War on Drugs. #NoMoreDrugWar
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
Mario Ramos has been incarcerated at Rikers Island and mental hospitals for the past 32 years without ever being convicted of a crime. via @theappeal
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The Sentencing Project
2 years
NEW REPORT: We can’t fight crime by locking up more of our kids. Incarceration damages young people’s physical and mental health, impedes their educational and career success, and often exposes them to abuse.
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
While a federal law prohibits shackling pregnant women in prison, women in state prisons and county jails are not protected by the same legislation. Currently, 23 states do not have laws against the shackling of incarcerated pregnant women.
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
#BREAKING : More than 200,000 people are serving a sentence of life without parole, life with parole or a virtual life sentence of at least 50 years. We need a more just, merciful, and humane criminal legal system. #20YearsIsEnough #EndLifeImprisonment
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
Maryland officials have released about 200 youths—nearly a one-third reduction—from state juvenile facilities over health concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
A judge recently cleared the way for the release of Sheldry Topp—who has been incarcerated since 1962 and is Michigan's oldest & longest-serving juvenile lifer. via @NBCNews
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The Sentencing Project
3 years
NEW REPORT: Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at nearly 5X the rate of whites. Reducing these staggering racial and ethnic disparities must be central to any reform effort to scale back mass incarceration. Learn more:
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
Black youth only account for about 20% of the total youth population in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania—but they were 20X more likely than their white peers to be arrested and charged as adults in 2016 & 2017. via @theappeal
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
OP-ED: Suspending the licenses of people who are unable to pay their court fines & fees is most likely to put them further behind on payments, leading to a never-ending cycle of indebtedness and legal problems. via @stlday
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The Sentencing Project
3 years
Over 5 million Americans can't vote because of a felony conviction – and of those, roughly 75% are living in the community & 25% are serving their sentences behind bars. It's time to #FreeTheVote ! Thanks @johnlegend for supporting universal suffrage!
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The Sentencing Project
3 years
Formerly incarcerated people are more likely to suffer from food insecurity as the general population and this problem is exacerbated by bans on federal food assistance.
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
Formed in 1989, Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty educates the public on the realities of the death penalty, provides legal guidance & offers emotional support. It's the only anti-death penalty organization formed & run by people on death row.
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@SentencingProj
The Sentencing Project
5 years
The U.S. prison population has declined just 7% since reaching its peak level in 2009. If we continue at this recent pace of decline, it will take 72 years—until 2091—to cut the U.S. prison population by 50%. We need real #JusticeReformNow .
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5 years
"I'm 65, but I'm a baby out here now. It's a different world. When you do the kind of time I've done, there's always a concept that you'll walk out of prison & function normally again. That's not true."—Abner Hines, who served 45 years of a life sentence
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The Sentencing Project
2 years
NEW: Despite alarmist news coverage, the data reveals youth violence has been flat or declining during the pandemic. Get the facts from our latest brief on youth crime trends:
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The Sentencing Project
2 years
The number of incarcerated women was nearly 5X higher in 2020 than in 1980. There are one million women under the supervision of the criminal justice system.
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
Minneapolis police abruptly ended the practice of targeting small-scale marijuana sellers after it was discovered that 46 out of the 47 individuals arrested and charged were black. Learn more in our Race & Justice Newsletter:
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
🗣 A prison sentence should NOT be a death sentence! If the health & safety of incarcerated people continues to be ignored, more people will continue to become infected & die. We must #DecarcerateNow ! #EndLifeImprisonment
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The Sentencing Project
3 years
Many women serving extreme sentences were victims of physical, sexual and emotional abuse long before they committed a crime. The legal system consistently fails to take their experiences into account before imposing sentences. #alicenetwork #herwholetruth
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The Sentencing Project
3 years
Connecticut automatically restored the right to vote to people upon their release from prison! This is a significant action, but we must also work to secure voting rights for incarcerated people as well. #FreeTheVote
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
BREAKING: DC Council passed #RestoretheVoteDC , authorizing voting by residents incarcerated in jail or prison with a felony conviction! DC joins just two states, Maine and Vermont, that maintain voting rights for imprisoned citizens. #EndFelonyDisenfranchisement
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
Money bail is meant to ensure someone returns to court for trial. However, the effect is that two people accused of the same crime could have very different outcomes based on their ability to pay. via @aintacrow
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
After the passage of Florida's Amendment 4, Mississippi is now the state that disenfranchises the highest share of its residents. Nearly 10% of Mississippi’s residents were disenfranchised in 2016 because of a past felony conviction. via @Taniel
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
Responding to a law that makes feminine hygiene products free in VA prisons, a local sheriff said “They may be going through a hard time, because of a mistake or something that they did. But that doesn’t mean their dignity should be taken away from them."
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The Sentencing Project
7 years
Why #JusticeReformNow ? Because incarceration rates among communities of color are staggering.
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The Sentencing Project
2 years
NEW: The female incarcerated population stands over 6X higher than in 1980. Research on female incarceration is critical to understanding the full consequences of mass incarceration and to unraveling the policies that lead to their criminalization.
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The Sentencing Project
7 years
On establishing the world’s first prison-based law school: via @pbsnewshour #briefbutspectacular
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
. @GovernorVA announced Tuesday that he's taking executive action to restore the voting rights of anyone who is formerly incarcerated—a move that will immediately apply to more than 69,000 Virginians.
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The Sentencing Project
3 years
. @nicoleporter says Hervis Rogers' case illustrates the need for states to give people proper notification of their voting rights. #FreeTheVote
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
NEW REPORT: The national lifer population of 206,000 now exceeds the size of the entire prison population in 1970. The expansion of life imprisonment is a key component in the structure of mass incarceration. #EndLifeImprisonment #20YearsIsEnough
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
After being released from prison in 2011, Kontar Macklin couldn't wait to get his rights restored and vote in Tennessee. Now that he can vote, he makes sure to educate other justice-involved people on rights restoration. via @memphisnews
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
California will allow all nonviolent people in prison under the state's Three Strikes Act to seek parole. The law sentenced a disproportionate number of African Americans or those with mental disorders to life in prison for petty crimes. via @emilym_moon
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
In many Massachusetts counties, the cost of a 15-minute phone call from prison can cost more than $5. Proposed state legislation would allow incarcerated people to make calls at no charge. via @cogwbur
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
L.A. County will stop charging parents of kids involved in the justice system fines/fees associated with their detention in order to reduce the financial burden on vulnerable families. via @AbigailJHess
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
Philadelphia courts have sentenced more people to death than any other jurisdiction in the state—out of the 45 people current on death row from Philadelphia, 37 are black. via @elizabethweill
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
Oregon legislators passed a mandate that would require all of the state's prisons and jails to provide feminine hygiene products to incarcerated women and girls at no cost. via @hborrud
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
Nevada recently enacted a law that automatically restores the voting rights of people upon their release from prison. "It gave me a sense of citizenship. Now, I feel more like a regular person."—Kenneth Dorsey, who recently regained his right to vote.
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The Sentencing Project
7 years
A 2013 report showed that students who received an education while incarcerated were 43% less likely to be arrested for another crime than those who did not participate in any education programs. via @MarshallProj
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The Sentencing Project
3 years
“[Students are] much more likely to drop out of school, much more likely to enter the justice system if they’re suspended. And yet, kids in the U.S. miss 11 million school days per year due to suspensions.”—The Sentencing Project's Dick Mendel
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
LISTEN: "Our criminal justice system’s policies, practices, language, all of it is rooted in the American history of slavery, of Jim Crow, of racial subjugation. And our history of juvenile justice is just no different."— @jduffyrice
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
67% of Tennessee voters support restoring voting rights to people with felony convictions, according to a recent poll.
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
“Ex-offenders should not serve a life sentence after serving time in prison. This new policy allows them a chance to be considered for employment based on their qualifications and experience...and not their past"—New Orleans Councilmember @kgislesonpalmer
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
NEW REPORT: Since 1997, changes to state felony disenfranchisement laws in 23 states have restored voting rights to 1.4 million people. #EndFelonyDisenfranchisement
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
BREAKING: DC Council overwhelmingly passed the #SecondLook Amendment Act—a bill to give a meaningful opportunity for release to hundreds of District residents sentenced to long terms during their adolescence. #EndLifeImprisonment
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
NEW REPORT: More than 1,800 incarcerated kids have tested positive for COVID-19. Their families are demanding change. Our @JoshRovner summarizes lessons learned & provides key recommendations to slow the spread of the virus. #COVIDJustice #DecarcerateNow
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
The ramen sold in prisons contains high levels of sodium & increases risk of health problems. Chef Ron Freeman, who is formerly incarcerated, saw the problem & made a low-sodium ramen that will be sold at prison commissaries across the U.S. @laurenk_gill
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
Sara Bennett, a former public defender turned photographer captured the stories of women serving life sentences in New York state prisons through a series of portraits. via @gabrielhsanchez #20YearsIsEnough
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
Between 1995-2010, the number of incarcerated people aged 55+ nearly quadrupled. Prisons aren’t built to be hospitals. The rapid spread of COVID behind bars means we must #DecarcerateNow to save the lives of incarcerated people, staff & their communities.
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
Philadelphia courts have sentenced more people to death than any other jurisdiction in the state—out of the 45 people current on death row from Philadelphia, 37 are black. via @elizabethweill
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
"If we want to end mass incarceration, we cannot leave behind those charged with violent offenses."—Vaidya Gullapalli
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
At 15, Joe Ligon was sentenced to life in prison. He spent 68 years behind bars before he was released this month. The US has long led the world in incarcerating juveniles for life without parole, a practice ultimately ruled cruel and unusual punishment.
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
A federal judge Thursday granted a stay of execution for Lisa Montgomery—allowing her attorneys, who are recovering from COVID-19, more time to prepare her clemency application. Sign the petition to #SaveLisa :
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
OP-ED: Prosecutors should advocate for the release of people who no longer pose a public safety risk, revisit past extreme sentences & work to ensure the healthcare needs of those who are incarcerated are met.— @miriamkrinsky @AGKarlRacine @AttyStepMorales
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The Sentencing Project
2 years
NEW REPORT: Our latest analysis finds at the current pace of decarceration, it would take 75 years—until 2098—to return to 1972’s pre-mass incarceration prison population. We need urgent reform to protect future generations and end mass incarceration.
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden promised to end private prisons, cash bail, mandatory-minimum sentencing and the death penalty. A @MarshallProj report highlighted what could be expected if his criminal justice platform is prioritized.
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
NJ @GovMurphy recently signed a bill into law that will allow people incarcerated in New Jersey prisons to receive state educational aid.
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The Sentencing Project
1 year
Half of people in US prisons are parents of children who are under age 18: 47% in state prisons and 57% in federal prisons. “There is no way to punish the parent and not punish the child."
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
New York lawsuit alleges traffic checkpoints by the Buffalo Police Department’s Strike Force unit are unfair & racially discriminatory. Research found that more than 91% of these checkpoints were deployed in Black and Latinx neighborhoods. @prshakur
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
Most people "age out" of crime as they mature. An 18-year-old who committed a violent crime generally becomes a low public safety risk by age 40. We should divert high costs of aging prison population to interventions for those in their crime-prone years:
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
"Nothing pays me back more, or my family, than me walking in the same court, in the same state, where they didn't even look at me when they gave me 28 years. But now they have to acknowledge me as 'Attorney Adams.'" @JarrettFocused
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The Sentencing Project
8 years
. @CoryBooker introduces bill to create federal public defender office to represent the poor before the Supreme Court
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The Sentencing Project
7 years
New study finds higher recidivism rates for individuals sentenced to prison rather than probation: @dailycal
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4 years
BREAKING: 5.2 million Americans are barred from voting in the upcoming election due to a felony conviction. The criminal justice system shouldn’t decide who gets a say in our democracy! #LockedOut2020 #FreetheVote
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The Sentencing Project
3 years
🧵Our new report from @JoshRovner : “Too Many Locked Doors: The scope of youth confinement is vastly understated” presents youth incarceration data in a new light. Read here: /1
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The Sentencing Project
7 years
"The hardest thing about being in prison is not the time the judge gives you, but the time you lose with your family." via @MarshallProj
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The Sentencing Project
1 year
Our analysis finds at the current pace of decarceration, it would take 75 years—until 2098—to return to 1972’s pre-mass incarceration prison population. We need urgent reform to protect future generations and end mass incarceration.
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The Sentencing Project
4 years
Despite promises to eliminate mandatory minimums and uproot racial injustice in the justice system, @POTUS & Democratic leadership are holding a vote today to extend a Trump-era mandatory minimum drug sentencing policy that has a disparate impact on Black & Brown communities.
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
To halt the spread of COVID-19, @NYGovCuomo ordered the release of 1,100 people with parole violations who are being held in jails and prisons across the state, which includes 600 people in NYC jails.
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The Sentencing Project
3 years
Bill Underwood, Senior Fellow at The Sentencing Project, served 33 years in prison on a life-without-parole sentence before receiving compassionate release earlier this year. Today, he is on Capitol Hill urging passage of the #FirstStepImplementationAct and #SaferDetentionAct .
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The Sentencing Project
6 years
It’s not easy to get ahead after coming of age in prison. Documentary #BecomingFree tells the story of formerly incarcerated people returning home as adults, having skipped crucial formative years in which young people learn life skills. @TaraBahrampour
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The Sentencing Project
5 years
Nearly 7K women are serving a life or virtual life sentence – one-third of them with no chance for parole. Georgia is among the states with the highest proportion of women in prison serving life sentences, with a rate of 1 in 8 women. via @jozsefpapp_
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2 years
NEW REPORT: 137,500 LGBTQ+ people are incarcerated in the U.S. Our report highlights the drivers of over-incarceration and recommends meaningful reforms.
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5 years
The Department of Education announced it will expand the Second Chance Pell initiative, which allows people incarcerated in state & federal prisons to receive Pell Grants to take college courses. via @Colorlines
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The Sentencing Project
7 years
Bureau of Prisons issue a new policy requiring prisons to provide free tampons and maxi-pads to women @mercurynews
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The Sentencing Project
7 years
Cook County, Illinois will set up an alternative community court that emphasizes restorative justice: via @WBEZ
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The Sentencing Project
2 years
Yesterday, the DC Council unanimously passed the Revised Criminal Code of 2022 (RCCA), a sweeping modernization of the District’s criminal laws. The RCCA positions the District as a national leader in sentencing reform and models how legislatures can reduce extreme sentences.
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The Sentencing Project
3 years
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The impact of incarceration not only affects people in prison, but it also extends beyond prison walls to their loved ones on the outside.
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@SentencingProj
The Sentencing Project
5 years
The U.S. prison population has declined just 7% since reaching its peak level in 2009. If we continue at this recent pace of decline, it will take 72 years—until 2091—to cut the U.S. prison population by 50%. We need real #JusticeReformNow .
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@SentencingProj
The Sentencing Project
7 years
People need books in prison so they can see themselves outside of incarceration & to increase literacy: @TeenVogue
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The Sentencing Project
2 years
Parental incarceration disproportionately impacts children of color. We must decarcerate and re-invest to heal communities impacted by the criminal legal system.
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