Our list of criminal justice campaigns that can win in 2019

by Aleks Kajstura, December 12, 2018

This report has been updated with a new version for 2022.

The 2019 legislative session is almost upon us, and we’ve compiled – as we do every year – a list of under-discussed but winnable criminal justice reforms. While federal prison reform continues to receive more than its fair share of attention, state legislatures and governors remain empowered to determine the future of mass incarceration.

We publish this list as a briefing with links to more information and model bills, and recently sent it to reform-minded state legislators across the country. (To read about recent legislative victories on these fronts – such as three states ending unnecessary driver’s license suspensions in 2018! – see our new Annual Report.)

Our list of reforms ripe for legislative victory are:

• Ending prison gerrymandering
• Lowering the cost of calls home from prison or jail
• Protecting in-person family visits from the video calling industry
• Stopping automatic driver’s license suspensions for drug offenses unrelated to driving
• Repealing or reforming ineffective and harmful sentencing enhancement zones
• Protecting letters from home in local jails
• Requiring racial impact statements for criminal justice bills
• Creating a “safety valve” for mandatory minimum sentences
• Eliminating “pay only” probation and regulating privatized probation services
• Reducing pretrial detention
• Decreasing state incarceration rates by reducing jail populations
• Curbing the exploitation of people released from custody
• Ending electronic monitoring for individuals on parole
• Shortening excessive prison sentences

Could your state be working on any of these reforms? We’re looking forward to the progress we can make together in 2019!