Sentencing Project - Advocacy

Advocacy

The Sentencing Project has long been engaged in advocating for criminal justice and juvenile justice reform, including legislative advocacy, public education, and engagement with practitioners. At the federal level, highlights have included contributing to the adoption of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which reduced the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses, and changes to the federal sentencing guidelines which reduced crack cocaine offense levels as well. Staff of The Sentencing Project have are frequently invited to testify before Congress, the United States Sentencing Commission, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and other agencies.

In the area of juvenile justice The Sentencing Project has been engaged in efforts to strengthen and enhance the mandate of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, including approaches to reducing racial disparity in detention. The organization has also played a leading role in campaigns to end the practice of sentencing juveniles to life without parole, and submitted an amicus brief which was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 2010 decision in Graham v. Florida that barred such penalties in non-homicide offenses.

Support for reform at the state level has included engagement with policymakers and reform organizations on issues including sentencing policy, racial disparity, felony disenfranchisement, and juvenile justice. As documented by The Sentencing Project in Expanding the Vote: State Felony Disenfranchisement Reform, 1997-2010, 23 states enacted reforms to their disenfranchisement policies and practices between 1997 – 2010. The organization has also championed the concept of racial impact statements that can allow policymakers to project any undue racial effects of proposed sentencing legislation. In 2008, the states of Connecticut and Iowa each adopted such legislation.