News & Commentary about Smart Justice

The ACLU Campaign for Smart Justice is an unprecedented, multiyear effort to reduce the U.S. jail and prison population by 50% and to challenge racism in the criminal legal system.

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May 7, 2020

Poetry, Prison, and the Pandemic

Mother and daughter reunited on yellow background

Apr 23, 2020

After a Lifetime Apart, COVID-19 Prison Release Reunites Mother and Daughter

Inmate housing area in a California prison.

Apr 22, 2020

New Model Shows Reducing Jail Population will Lower COVID-19 Death Toll for All of Us

Inmates walk around a recreation yard of a California prison.

Apr 13, 2020

Federal Wardens Must Immediately Flatten the Curve in our Nation's Prisons

inmates walk the yard during recreation time in a county jail.

Apr 7, 2020

Louisiana’s Suspension of Due Process Could Be a COVID-19 Catastrophe in Jails and Prisons

An incarcerated prison looking at a corrections officer separated by bars and a thick plastic barrier.

Mar 18, 2020

Police, Prosecutors, Sheriffs, Parole Officers, and Governors can Help Stop the Spread of COVID-19 — Here’s How

A photo collage of two lawyers, one shaded blue and one shaded red, against a white background with bits of text from legal documents layered over them and in the background

Feb 18, 2020

It’s Time to Transform What it Means to be a Prosecutor

A gavel and a pair of handcuffs on a pile of money.

Feb 5, 2020

Using Bail as Ransom Violates the Core Tenets of Pretrial Justice

Jan 13, 2020

Coercive Plea Bargaining Has Poisoned the Criminal Justice System. It’s Time to Suck the Venom Out.

Dec 24, 2019

Across the Country Harsh Sentencing Laws are Tearing Apart Families and Communities