User:Jerichorajninger/Criminal justice reform in the United States

Lead (rewritten to be better organized + added sentences)
'''Criminal justice reform addresses structural issues in criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Reforms can take place at any point where the criminal justice system intervenes in citizens’ lives, including lawmaking, policing, sentencing and incarceration. Criminal justice reform can also address the collateral consequences of conviction, including disenfranchisement or lack of access to housing or employment, that restrict the rights of individuals with criminal records.'''

'''There are many organizations that advocate to reform the criminal justice system such as: ACLU, Penal Reform International, Sentencing Project, Brennan Center for Justice, Cut 50 and the Innocence Project. These organizations use legal disputes, impact litigation and advocacy as well as educational events to make the public aware of problems with the criminal justice system and push state and federal governments toward reform.'''

Article body
Sentencing (added to existing content)

Sentencing laws within the U.S. criminal justice system are criticized for being both draconian and racially discriminatory. '''Sentencing reform can reduce lengthy penalties for violent and nonviolent crimes, make it more difficult to incarcerate people for minor offenses, increase parole grants, improve prison programming, and even expedite the release of eligible insiders, all of which have been proven to contribute to decarceration. '''

Sentencing regulation (added to existing content)
Individuals are sentenced more often and for longer in the United States, with the average sentence in the U.S. being nearly twice as long as Australian and five times as long as German sentences. Truth in Sentencing laws and mandatory minimums are perceived to be two forms of draconian policies that contribute to mass incarceration.

'''Mandatory minimums are laws that require judges to sentence an individual to a specified minimum prison sentence for the committed crime. Mandatory minimums have often resulted in unnecessarily harsh sentences for low-level offenders and are believed to contribute to racial disparities in prison. Mandatory minimums also shift power from judges to prosecutors, who have the ability to use the threat of an extremely long sentence in order to pressure defendants into accepting a plea bargain. Repealing mandatory minimums for certain low-level offenses, such as drug crimes, would return power to judges and allow a more flexible approach to sentencing that could help promote alternatives to incarceration. '''

Reentry
'''Restorative justice approaches can also be effective in reducing recidivism: Programs that engage repeat offenders in community justice, such as group affiliations and mentorship, help divert participants from the prison system. '''

Support for reform (adding to part about prison abolition)
Proponents of prison abolition may support divestment from the prison system through state and federal budget plans that funnel money away from punitive institutions and invest in community-based alternatives to incarceration.

Reform Organizations
'''Reform organizations led by people with conviction histories and their family members have sprung up across the United States in recent decades. The Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted People and Families Movement (FICPFM), a national network of organizations led by and for people impacted by the justice system and dedicated to ending mass incarceration, was formed in 2011. These organizations believe people with first-hand experience of the harms of the justice system are uniquely positioned to advocate for alternatives to incarceration and for the restoration of rights to people with criminal records. The role of formerly-incarcerated leaders in promoting transformational criminal justice reform has often gone unrecognized in established academic and policy arenas, but FICPFM and its member organizations have contributed to a national movement that's gaining institutional recognition and traction at local, state and national levels. '''