Reconsidering Long Sentences: The Search for Common Ground

The Council on Criminal Justice established a Task Force on Long Sentences in 2022, amidst an historic rise in homicide. This article describes why the it was essential to discuss the nation’s use of long sentences in a difficult political environment, offers a window into the key policy tensions the group faced, including how to weigh empirical and experiential evidence. It describes the central themes of the group’s findings and recommendations and importance of reaching consensus across diverse perspectives.