A new interactive online tool aims to help activists and policymakers reduce the US jail and prison population by 50 percent and combat racial disparities in the criminal justice system, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a press release on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) A new interactive online tool aims to help activists and policymakers reduce the US jail and prison population by 50 percent and combat racial disparities in the criminal justice system, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a press release on Wednesday.
"The American Civil Liberties Union's Campaign for Smart Justice today unveiled the Smart Justice 50-State Blueprints, a comprehensive, state-by-state analysis of how states can transform their criminal justice system and cut incarceration in half," the release said.
The Smart Justice 50-State Blueprints initiative consists of a total of 51 reports that are the result of a multi-year partnership between the ACLU, its state affiliates and the Urban Institute to develop actionable policy options for each state that capture the nuance of local laws and sentencing practices, the release added.
Each report includes an overview of the state's incarcerated populations, along with a calculation tool that shows how a 50 percent reduction in the incarceration rate could be achieved.
"Mass incarceration is a nationwide problem, but one that is rooted in the states and must be fixed by the states," Udi Ofer, director of the ACLU Campaign for Smart Justice, said in the release.
The ACLU said that of the more than 2 million people currently incarcerated in the US, around 90 percent are held in local jails and state prisons.
