RALEIGH — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of North Carolina today released a report that outlines how North Carolina can reduce its jail and prison population by half and save more than $1 billion by pursuing reforms that include diverting more people to treatment programs, ending cash bail, eliminating mandatory minimums for drug sentences, and expanding access to compassionate release for the state’s rapidly aging prison population.
The report is part of the ACLU’s Smart Justice 50-State Blueprints project, a comprehensive, state-by-state analysis of how states can transform their criminal justice systems and cut incarceration in half.
The blueprint provides an overview of North Carolina’s incarcerated populations, including an analysis of what drives people into the system, who is being sent to jail and prison and the racial disparities that are present, how long people spend behind bars, and why people are imprisoned for so long.
The North Carolina report found that an increase in the average amount of time people spend in prison, particularly for drug offenses, and a decrease in the number of people released from prison every year have kept the state’s prison population near peak levels, despite a reduction in the number of people entering the system in recent years. It also shows that Black men, people over the age of 50, and people with severe mental illness and substance use disorders are massively over-represented in the state’s prison population.
The findings in the report cover:
“The simple truth is that North Carolina incarcerates too many people, for too long, and for the wrong reasons,” said Karen Anderson, the executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina. “It is urgent that North Carolina’s elected officials, voters, and community leaders dramatically reduce our reliance on incarceration and invest instead in alternatives to prison, including common sense approaches that can break the cycle of crime and recidivism by helping people rebuild their lives. Decades spent putting thousands of people behind bars have not made North Carolina safer, but have instead ruined countless lives, wasted millions of taxpayer dollars, and devastated communities across our state, particularly those who are low-income and of color. It’s time for North Carolina to move away from the failed policies of mass incarceration and pursue a new vision of justice and safety.”
About the 50-State Blueprints Project
The Smart Justice 50-State Blueprints is the first-ever analysis of its kind and will serve as a tool for activists, advocates, and policymakers to push for transformational change to the criminal justice system. They are the result of a multi-year partnership between the ACLU, its state affiliates, and the Urban Institute to develop actionable policy options for each state that capture the nuance of local laws and sentencing practices.
The 51 reports (covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia) will be released in multiple phases, beginning with an initial rollout of 24 state reports, including North Carolina. The state reports provide a snapshot of the tailored, localized approach that reforms must take to ending mass incarceration.
The Blueprints offer a calculation on the impact of certain reforms by 2025 on racial disparities in the prison population, fiscal costs, and overall prison population and progress toward a 50% decarceration goal.
“We hope that the Smart Justice 50-State Blueprints provide necessary guideposts for activists and policymakers as they pursue local solutions that will address the stark racial disparities in our criminal justice system and dramatically reduce their jail and prison populations,” said Udi Ofer, director of the ACLU Campaign for Smart Justice. “Some of the reforms contained in the Blueprints are readily achievable, while others are going to require audacious change. But all are needed to prioritize people over prisons.”
The reports are all viewable on an interactive website that allows users to visualize the reductions in jail and prison population that would result from the policy decisions that states pursue. The interactive feature is viewable here.
About the ACLU’s Campaign for Smart Justice
The ACLU Campaign for Smart Justice is an unprecedented, multiyear effort to reduce the U.S. jail and prison population by 50 percent and to combat racial disparities in the criminal justice system. We are working in all 50 states for reforms to usher in a new era of justice in America. The ACLU Campaign for Smart Justice is fighting in the legislatures, the courts, and in the streets to end mass incarceration.
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