RecommendationsPlease click each recommendation for a research summary, recommendation, and detailed implementation steps. 1Prioritize funding for violence reduction and victim and survivor services2Guarantee access to services for all victims and survivors of serious and violent crime3Reduce recidivism by addressing behavioral health needs of people serving long sentences4Promote accountability and enhance access to services through the enforcement of victims’ rights5Identify and alleviate unwarranted racial disparities in sentencing6Ensure that judges may consider relevant facts and circumstances when imposing long sentences7Decouple drug quantity from sentence lengths and restrict the use of long sentences in cases that stem from symptoms of substance use and mental health disorders8Ensure that sentencing enhancements based on criminal history are focused on individualized assessments of risk9Provide restorative justice opportunities for victims, survivors, and people serving long sentences10Prioritize professionalized assessments of rehabilitation and present danger to public safety in parole decision-making11Maximize rehabilitation by expanding earned sentence credit opportunities12Promote accountability and rehabilitation through selective second look opportunities13Provide people serving long sentences with access to rehabilitative living conditions and opportunities14Improve the nation’s understanding of the use of long sentences with more data, greater transparency, and a focus on clear costs and benefits
