This report examines the way our criminal legal systems have driven up incarceration rates, disproportionately harmed communities of color, and failed to provide true public safety. Specifically, we analyze sentencing and incarceration policies and law enforcement practices, including those in policing and prosecution, that have created systems of control but failed to treat underlying challenges. The report then lays out a new path for public safety that looks to the comprehensive, research-based strategies in policing, prosecution, and sentencing that elected and appointed leaders are using to move away from harsh carceral practices and respond to social and economic needs. These reforms illuminate a new vision of public safety that reduces our reliance on systems of enforcement and control while relying instead on research, collaboration, and community engagement—not incarceration—to build and support communities.

Read the full report here.