Legislation and Prison Reforms: Some Leads
Sources like the ones below are great when you are looking for evidence of how the government, on the state or local level is engaging with prison-related issues.
Legislation can sometimes "anchor" your argument -- help to make it concrete by serving as an illustration of something -- or serve as the basis of the argument itself.
- First Step Act Portal (Federal Bureau of Prisons)
- Second Look Act of 2019: Changes to life sentence laws proposed by Sen. Cory Booker; reports and discussions available via the Sentencing Project
- Winnable Criminal Justice Reforms in 2022 (Prison Policy Initiative): An annual report, which identifies and explains selected legislation under consideration at the state level. It gives some evaluation and policy recommendations, too.
- ProQuest Congressional: Use this Harvard Library database to discover bills proposed to Congress, hearings on legislation, reports, and more.
- NCLS: National Council of State Legislatures One of its themed pages, on Civil and Criminal Justice, includes a state bill-tracking database. It's also keyword searchable.
