The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population and nearly a quarter of its prisoners, and the criminal justice system deeply discriminates against people of color at all times. Overcrowding is a consequence of criminal justice policy, not of rising crime rates, and undermines the capacity of prison systems to meet basic human needs, such as health care, food and shelter. It recognizes that criminal justice reform requires knowledge and experience in a variety of disciplines that are rarely embodied in a single person. While most states, under Republican and Democratic control, have enacted criminal justice reforms in recent years to reduce the prison population without harming public safety, most state reforms to date have not been comprehensive enough to have a major impact on the prison population.
Making Law and Policy that Work is aimed at specialists and non-specialists who face the responsibility of creating a political and legislative framework for criminal justice and criminal justice systems.
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