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    • Content Page

    Race and Juvenile Justice

    “Today, 50 years after Gault, youth of color continue to be disproportionately suspended and expelled, arrested, processed in courts rather than diverted, detained in secure facilities and transferred to adult court for prosecution.” -- Professor Kristin Henning, reflecting on racial disparities in the juvenile justice system 50 years after the Supreme Court’s affirmation of the right to due process, including to defense counsel, for juveniles in delinquency proceedings.

    • Content Page

    Race and Sentencing

    The combined impacts of biased policing, discretionary charging decisions, sentencing enhancements, and the continuing impacts of the tough-on-crime movement have created and bolstered a criminal justice system in which people of color, particularly Black people, are more likely to be sentenced to prison and are subject to lengthier periods of incarceration.  
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    Race and Policing

    Racially biased policing takes many different forms, from elevated police presences in the neighborhoods of marginalized communities, to disproportionate street and vehicle stops and searches, to use of force, to outright expressions of racism within some police departments.
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    Race and the Death Penalty

    “Even under the most sophisticated death penalty statutes, race continues to play a major role in determining who shall live and who shall die. Perhaps it should not be surprising that the biases and prejudices that infect society generally would influence the determination of who is sentenced to death.” – Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun (1994)

    • Content Page

    Race and Collateral Consequences

    It is legal today to discriminate against individuals with criminal records “in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discrimination against African Americans,” says Michelle Alexander in The New Jim Crow. “Once you’re labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of education opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion from jury service—are suddenly legal.”

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    Race and the War on Drugs

    "Nothing has contributed more to the systematic mass incarceration of people of color in the United States than the War on Drugs."

    Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow (2010)

  7. Race and Pretrial

    Race and Pretrial

    • Document

    Statement to USSC on Proposed Amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines (March 2002)

    NACDL President Irwin Schwartz's written testimony to the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding proposed amendments to the sentencing guidelines.
    • Document

    Fourth Circuit Decision to Vacate and Remand Sentence for Failure to Consider Downward Departure

    Fourth Circuit Decision to Vacate and Remand Sentence for Failure to Consider Downward Departure.
    • Document

    Statement to the U.S. Sentencing Commission on Proposed Ecstasy Sentencing Guidelines (March 2001)

    NACDL President Edward Mallett's written statement to the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding proposed amendments to the sentencing guidelines for ecstasy offenses.
    • Document

    Statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee on U.S. Sentencing Commission Oversight (October 2000)

    NACDL Postconviction and Sentencing Committee chair Carmen Hernandez's written statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding oversight of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
    • Document

    Statement to the House Reforms Subcommittee on Criminal Justice on Drug Sentencing Policy (May 2000)

    NACDL President William Moffitt's written statement to the House Government Reforms Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources regarding mandatory minimum sentencing policies for drug offenses.
    • Document

    Questions and Testimony to Senate Judiciary on U.S. Sentencing Commission Oversight (October 2000)

    Senator Patrick Leahy's questions and NACDL's Post-Conviction and Sentencing Committee chair Carmen Hernandez's testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
    • Document

    Coalition Letter to USSC on Cocaine Sentencing (February 2003)

    Coalition letter to the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding sentencing policies for federal cocaine offenses.
    • Document

    Coalition Letter to the Senate on Sentencing Guidelines for Identity Theft Offenses (February 2003)

    Coalition letter to members the Senate regarding sentencing guidelines in the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act (S. 153).