The Sentencing Project Provides Data and Other Resources for Reform Advocates,
by Sherry Reames
I have become a big fan of the Sentencing Project, a national nonprofit that describes its mission as “advocat[ing] for effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice.” Although it is best known for recommending an end to extremely long sentences, the Sentencing Project (hereafter SP) also advocates for a universal “second look” review process after the first decade of incarceration, for the restoration of voting rights to citizens with felony convictions, and for laws and programs to keep youth out of the adult criminal-legal system.
As their website explains, the SP works toward these goals in partnership with dozens of national and state-level organizations. What the SP provides to all of them, and to us in MOSES and WISDOM, is a wealth of free resources that can easily be downloaded from that website: detailed research reports on various aspects of the U.S. criminal-legal system, data and fact sheets, press releases on recent developments, informational videos, and current calls to action. Among the latter, to my surprise, is a campaign to “End the Ban of Food Stamps for People with Drug Convictions” (an issue I thought had been resolved long ago), as well as one to “Support the Safer Detention Act,” seeking compassionate relief for elderly and sick people in federal prisons.
Besides exploring the wonderful SP website – www.sentencingproject.org – MOSES members might want to sign up to receive their emails, which include links to new reports and press releases as they are published. It is not necessary to donate, but after doing so I also started receiving invitations to some inspiring webinars about the work being done by some of SP’s partner organizations in other states.