Ending Mass Incarceration

With 2.3 million Americans behind bars, the criminal justice system is larger than ever. Its growing tentacles have caught almost every demographic subset of our country. The U.S. has less than five percent of the world’s population, yet incarcerates nearly a quarter of the world’s prisoners. The system also has massive hidden economic and societal costs that reverberate throughout society, affecting all of us.

The Brennan Center seeks to end mass incarceration through policy and legal reforms to create a more rational system that protects public safety and communities. The Center seeks to eliminate the criminalization of minor behavior, reform selective enforcement policies, institute a proportional system of punishment, and holding all actors in the criminal justice system accountable by ensuring that government dollars are spent on effective, evidence-based programs.

The Center also focuses on strengthening public defense through the Community-Oriented Defender (COD) Network, a national movement dedicated to making sure all Americans have access to legal counsel when facing criminal charges.

To read about the program’s latest work, read the latest Justice Update e-newsletter here.

Sign up to receive the Justice Update here.

Recent Research

Letter to the Editor: Broken Justice in the Bronx
Thomas Giovanni

In response to a recent New York Times editorial on delays in Bronx courts, Thomas Giovanni urges legislators to invest in public defenders, reclassify petty offenses and to end mass incarceration in a letter to the editor.

April 25, 2013
Justice for All
Ending Mass Incarceration
The Right to Counsel 50 Years After Gideon: A Resource Page

Fifty years after the Supreme Court recognized the constitutional right to an attorney for criminal defendants, America's indigent defense system is in a state of crisis. This resource page features analysis on the unfulfilled promise of Gideon and the steps required to fix it.

April 9, 2013
Justice for All
Ending Mass Incarceration

Recent Blog Posts

Should Judges Consider the Cost of Sentences?

Lauren-Brooke Eisen

Vermont lawmakers missed an opportunity to reduce state correction costs this month when they failed to pass a provision requiring judges to consider the cost of available sentences — a move that would help Vermont lower its correction costs and prison population.

May 22, 2013

Justice for All

Ending Mass Incarceration

Performance Incentive Funding Can End Juvenile Mass Incarceration, Too

Gabriel Solis

Although the juvenile incarceration rate has reached its lowest point since 1995, the United States remains the largest incarcerator of children in the industrialized world. Lawmakers and advocates should focus on more rational approaches to juvenile crime, such as performance incentive funding.

March 1, 2013

Ending Mass Incarceration

Recent Litigation

Michigan v. Bailey (Amicus Brief)

The Brennan Center filed an amicus brief in Michigan v. Bailey, a case that raises important issues regarding the incarceration of individuals based on their inability to pay criminal justice debt.

September 17, 2012
Ending Mass Incarceration
Valdivia v. Brown (Amicus Brief)

In 2008, California voters enacted Proposition 9, which would severely abridge the provision of counsel to parolees and increase the risk that parolees are wrongly or unnecessarily returned to prison. A group of parolees, along with the Brennan Center and other groups dedicated to ending unnecessary incarceration, are now in fighting in federal court for the continued right to counsel in all revocation hearings.

July 27, 2012
Ending Mass Incarceration

Brennan Center for Justice

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