The advent of a new congressional session and presidential term always provides an ideal opportunity for The Sentencing Project to share our top federal legislative priorities for Capitol Hill and the Administration. This year is no different in that respect, but also extraordinarily different. The pandemic has crippled the country like nothing we have ever seen, and emboldened white supremacists simultaneously threaten the continuation of our democracy. While many of us are struggling as never before, I write to say that there is hope. 

A new vision arrives on Inauguration Day that will offer an opportunity to change policies that perpetuate racial injustice and mass incarceration. Working with our coalition partners, people incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, and supporters like you, we can begin to transform the nation’s criminal legal system, save lives and heal communities. 

Among our key priorities:

• Protect incarcerated people from COVID-19 by expediting early releases of elderly, youth and all vulnerable people, and by implementing systemwide testing and vaccinations for all correctional staff and people in custody.
   
• Eliminate extreme sentencing practices including all mandatory minimums, the death penalty, life without parole and terms longer than 20 years. The Second Look Act, sponsored by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), would provide sentence review after 10 years of incarceration and exemplifies a more humane and strategic approach to sentencing.
   
• Promote universal suffrage for all citizens regardless of criminal conviction or current incarceration so that the criminal legal system will no longer be used to undermine the voice of any community in this country. 

The Sentencing Project is proud to have partnered with the Justice Roundtable and its over 100 organizational participants to create Transformative Justice: Recommendations for the New Administration and the 117^th Congress. It outlines an ambitious agenda for change of the nation’s entire criminal legal system. The Sentencing Project is pleased to have spearheaded the chapter on sentencing and prison reform. We encourage you to read these priorities and help us work for real and lasting change in America.  

To support this critical work in 2021, please consider making a donation today!

We look forward to working with you in this important effort and building a better future for all our people.

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