Sentencing

Harsh, inflexible sentences may have political appeal, but they do not deter crime or make communities safer. At great cost to taxpayers, mandatory minimum sentencing laws force judges to hand down unnecessarily long prison terms, without regard for the specific offense or offender. Such sentencing laws disproportionately affect minorities and have contributed greatly to the explosive increase in the U.S. prison population during the past three decades.

With growing bipartisan consensus that sentencing laws have gone too far, NACDL supports measures to repeal these policies.

Resources on sentencing and possible reform:

Second Look = Second Chance: The NACDL Model “Second Look” Legislation

On December 10, 2020, NACDL released its model “Second Look” sentencing legislation and accompanying report – Second Look = Second Chance: Turning the Tide Through NACDL’s Model “Second Look” Legislation. The NACDL model legislation provides a vehicle that legislatures can use to safely reduce the number of individuals serving excessive, counter-productive sentences: guaranteeing all incarcerated individuals a “Second Look” once they have spent at least a decade in prison. [Released December 2020; Revised Edition Released June 2021]

The First Step Act

The First Step Act (P.L. 115-391 756) was signed into law on December 21, 2018. The Act is a federal criminal justice reform bill that changes many harsh federal sentencing laws. The Act also expands compassionate release for qualifying federal inmates and offers current federal inmates rehabilitative programming and the possibility for early release from prison.

Prison Brake: Rethinking the Sentencing Status Quo (2020 Presidential Summit & Sentencing Symposium)

Co-Sponsored by Georgetown University Law Center’s American Criminal Law Review

The landscape of sentencing policy has shifted in recent years, with federal and state lawmakers advocating fewer draconian penalties and beginning to scale back certain sentences. It is clear that the United States stands at a critical juncture for sentencing reform. This symposium is designed to equip practitioners and policy advocates with the latest strategies and research to seize the moment and foster more rational and humane policies.

Excessive Sentencing: NACDL's Proportionality Litigation Project

NACDL is pleased to offer, as a resource for its members and as a service to the public, a collection of resources that summarize for each U.S. state the key doctrines and leading court rulings setting forth constitutional and statutory limits on lengthy imprisonment terms and other extreme (non-capital) sentences.