The Sentencing Project

Small protests did take place somewhere in the city, including at the popular crafts market Delhi Hut.

A new report released by the Sentencing Project has found that over three-quarters of a million women are barred from voting because of a felony-level conviction.

The report, entitled Women Silenced at the Polls How Criminal Convictions Deny the Right to Vote, examines how the legal system has expanded the reach of felony disenfranchisement laws and left hundreds of thousands of women out of the democratic process.

Kristen Budd is a senior research analyst at the Sentencing Project.

She talked about what her organization is trying to do, and in this particular case, particularly when it comes to women.

This is part of the sentencing project's mission is to end felony disenfranchisement and make sure every person can vote regardless of whatever criminal legal involvement.

So this report was specific to uplift women's voices.

So both men and women who have felony-level convictions can be disenfranchised depending on where they live, right, with the exception of Maine, Vermont, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

Now, in addition to what they were reporting, of course, I dug in to get as much information as possible so I can be educated on this.

Not only do you have that stat, but you have several organizations such as the Marshall Project and other organizations such as the Sentencing Project that have also reported on this as well.

Matter of fact, I'm reading an article here from the Sentencing Project that was published last November, and it says Youth Justice by the Numbers.

And in their reporting, they go even further to talk about how much the data has fallen because in their reporting, they're reporting between 2000 and 2023, youth incarceration fell by almost 75%.

Men lie, women lie, the numbers don't.

Says most today, most, excuse me, most youth arrest are for nonviolent offenses as far as 2024 data is concerned.

And then just eight and a half percent of youth arrest were for offenses categorized by the FBI as part of violent crimes.

And again, as I'm looking at this data and I'm looking at this graph here from The Sentencing Project.

I mean, so we've talked about this a lot with the Pamela Smart case.

I interviewed the Sentencing Project for Pam's case.

The Sentencing Project is trying to get the laws changed in all 50 states that anybody under the age of 21 should not be convicted to unalive row, unalivers row or life without parole.

They, in some cases, they're trying to push it up to the age of 25 because the human brain is not fully developed until at least 25.

So in Pam's case, she was 22 when she was convicted of first degree, accomplice to first degree.

Go ahead.

Um, The Sentencing Project is pushing a second looks law for incarcerated people with disabilities.

Uh, on September 16th, The Sentencing Project released a policy brief arguing that dis- arguing for the disability second look statutes that would allow sentence review for people with significant physical, cognitive, or social disabilities.

Um, the organization says that people with disabilities are disproportionately represented in prison, and argue that disability can affect everything from interactions with law enforcement to sentencing and accesses to rehabilitation.

I agree with all three of those points.

No.

And that's why I, I think it's awesome that, that they're pushing something out.

It's sad that it takes something like The Sentencing Project to do that, but honestly, they have all the facts and receipts to do it, so I can't wait.