Studies summarized by the Death Penalty Information Center indicate that the race of a victim plays an important role in death penalty sentencing outcomes, with cases involving white victims more likely to result in capital charges and death sentences than cases involving nonwhite victims.
New York has dramatically reduced drug arrests, convictions and incarceration over the last two decades, but racial disparities and unequal access to treatment alternatives still persist.
The Prison Policy Initiative report reveals that 5.5 million people in the US are under some form of correctional control, with the majority on probation or parole, and that these systems often lead to reincarceration rather than true alternatives.
A new report from The Sentencing Project finds that restorative justice diversion programs consistently produce better outcomes than traditional juvenile court processing, reducing reoffending, improving victim satisfaction and fostering more meaningful accountability.
The California Civil Rights Department has released data showing that significant pay disparities persist across gender and racial lines in California, particularly among large private-sector employers.
The modern-day implications of California’s 1994 “three strikes” law were highlighted in an arraignment of an elderly, wheelchair-bound man facing two new charges, demonstrating the racial disparities and outdated nature of the law.
Judge Scott Millington held the accused in the attempted murder case to all six counts, including attempted murder, while criticizing San Francisco in-custody policies and making comments that prompted concern in a separate case.
The Sentencing Project’s article cites evidence that increasing prison sentences based on criminal history does not improve public safety and disproportionately harms people of color, and proposes that criminal records should account for no more than 10% of sentence lengths for 10-year or longer sentences.
Alabama’s prison system is a modern-day plantation, exploiting Black labor for profit while stripping them of their political power and voice.
Charles “Sonny” Burton, a 75-year-old Black man, is scheduled to be executed on March 12, 2026 for his role in a 1991 robbery in Alabama that turned fatal, despite the fact that he did not fire the fatal shot, and advocates are petitioning Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to grant clemency in his case.
New York’s bail reform law has led to a decrease in bail-setting and pretrial detention, but bail has become less affordable and racial disparities persist, according to a new statewide report.
The 2025 Police Violence Report released by Mapping Police Violence shows that at least 1,201 people were killed by law enforcement officers across the US in 2025, with 95% of deaths involving police officers resulting from police shootings and fewer than 3% of police killings resulting in officers being charged with a crime.
Mandatory minimum sentences in the United States have failed to reduce crime and have instead driven mass incarceration, deepened racial disparities and undermined the fairness of the U.S. criminal legal system, according to extensive national research.
The Sentencing Project has released a report showing that automatic charging of youth in adult courts has had a detrimental impact on youth well-being and community safety, with racial disparities and a lack of access to rehabilitative programs being key concerns.
The Sentencing Project’s new fact sheet highlights a dramatic increase in the number of women incarcerated in the US, with the female population behind bars now more than seven times higher than in 1980, and over 1 million women currently under the supervision of the criminal justice system.
Despite a 75% decline in youth incarceration since 2000, racial and ethnic disparities remain in the arrests, sentencing and detention of youth, with youth of color disproportionately affected.
The Death Penalty Information Center reports that 226 military veterans have been executed, 14% of all executions in the modern era, with 66% of them having served in Vietnam, and 77% of them being executed for killing only white victims.
One year after California voters passed Proposition 36, Los Angeles County Public Defender Ricardo Garcia has warned that the measure has failed to address the root causes of addiction and poverty, and has instead led to increased incarceration and racial inequities in the justice system.
Millions of drivers are pulled over every year for minor violations, which rarely make roads safer and instead lead to racial disparities, violence, and loss of trust in police, prompting the ACLU to work to restore people’s rights on the road by limiting or ending traffic stops for issues unrelated to road safety.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of state attorneys general have written a letter opposing the Trump administration’s proposal to eliminate federal reporting requirements that help identify and address inequities in special education and disability programs.