Criminal Justice

The Brennan Center works to improve conditions for both staff and those who are incarcerated. Better environments can lead to better post-release outcomes.

Federal funding has long played a central role in fueling the incarceration boom. The Brennan Center conducts research on how to better use federal dollars to help cut prison populations while supporting safer communities.

Many of the nearly 2 million incarcerated people in the United States would pose no public safety risk if released. The Brennan Center works on multiple policy fronts to reduce the number of people who are in our nation’s jails and prisons.

Too often, politicians and pundits use false narratives about public safety to justify America’s system of mass incarceration, which relies on excessive punishment without actually making our communities safe. The Brennan Center counteracts these myths through authoritative research and data on local and national crime rates.

The reach of the criminal justice system comes with enormous costs for formerly incarcerated individuals, their families, and their communities. The Brennan Center pursues policy reforms to ensure a more fair and equitable criminal justice system.