Criminal Justice Reform

Imprisonment is a brutal and costly response to crime that traumatizes incarcerated people and hurts families and communities.

Person wearing a hat holding a cardboard cut-out of an orange Arizona Department of Corrections prison uniform.

The American Civil Liberties of Arizona is a leader in the ACLU’s Campaign for Smart Justice, a multiyear initiative aimed at reducing the U.S. jail and prison population by 50 percent and combating racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

The United States incarcerates too many people for too long and for the wrong reasons.

Imprisonment is a brutal and costly response to crime that traumatizes incarcerated people and hurts families and communities. It should be the last option, not the first. For the last four decades, this country has relentlessly expanded the size of its criminal justice system, needlessly throwing away too many lives and wasting trillions of taxpayer dollars.

Arizona simply cannot afford the current approach any longer. The result of incarceration is destabilization. Arizona families and communities suffer the consequences.

The Latest

Press Release
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Lawsuit Filed to End Enforcement of Glendale’s Unconstitutional Panhandling Bans

Glendale’s ordinances ban a person from asking others for financial support in every publicly accessible location in the city, violating the First Amendment and punishing people experiencing homelessness and financial hardship.
Issue Areas: Criminal Justice Reform
Resource
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The ACLU of Arizona advances equity and dismantles systemic injustice by taking legal action, influencing policy, and mobilizing our communities to protect the civil rights, liberties, and dignity of all Arizonans. Sign up to stay informed.
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2025 Legislative Session

News & Commentary
Image of a chain-link fence in the desert, with a collage of handcuffs and yellow "x's"

Arizona's War on Drugs

In the second and final installment of “Fifty-two years of fear and failure," we detail the impacts of a state-based war on drugs and propose a way forward.
Court Case
Jul 07, 2021

Luckey v. Adel

The ACLU and the ACLU of Arizona are suing Allister Adel and her office for forcing people to plead guilty and waive their fundamental right to defend themselves in court.
Court Case
Aug 16, 2019

Robert Louis Hiskett v. The Honorable Rick Lambert

In Arizona, if a person is accused of a sex offense, the state mandates they wear a GPS monitoring ankle device — pretrial, preconviction. This is unconstitutional.