The ACLU's Campaign for Smart Justice: Ending Mass Incarceration in the US

Birmingham City University

School of Law Research Seminar Series - The ACLU's Campaign for Smart Justice: Ending Mass Incarceration in the US

Title: The ACLU's Campaign for Smart Justice: Ending Mass Incarceration in the US 

About the Session 

Mass incarceration is frequently used by scholars to describe the ‘institution’ that has emerged in over the past 50 years in the United States (US) criminal justice system. As of 2020, the US incarcerates almost 2 million people. But not all these people have been convicted of a crime, and many are behind bars on non-violent offences such as failing to pay a debt and personal possession of marijuana. The ‘phenomenon’ that warranted its own name (‘mass incarceration’) renders the situation incomparable to the systems in place in other developed democracies around the world. Mass incarceration has two consequences on society: (1) the number of incarcerated people, and (2) collateral consequences. Both of which are having immeasurable impacts on society as it develops; from the disenfranchisement of members from large sectors of the population to economic restrictions that create a school to prison pipeline. It becomes necessary to consider the root of the issue. Mass incarceration is not intentional policy that was passed, but rather the outcome of an overlapping series of laws, political actions, and economics. These were layered onto deepening social divisions and racial exclusions that effectively criminalised the ‘underclass.’ This seminar will briefly explore the different elements that brought about mass incarceration in the US, with the aim to recognise ways in which ‘Smart Justice’ and informed policy reform can start tackling this beast. 

About the Speaker 

Melisa is a second year PhD student at Birmingham City University. Her PhD looks at the role of civil society in translating international human rights law into domestic legal change, engaging with the Universal Periodic Review, and the American Civil Liberties Union’s Campaign for Smart Justice as case studies. Alongside this, Melisa’s research interests include sentencing reforms, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, state engagement with international human rights provisions and policy reform.

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The ACLU's Campaign for Smart Justice: Ending Mass Incarceration in the US

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The ACLU's Campaign for Smart Justice: Ending Mass Incarceration in the US

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