Prosecutors are the gatekeepers of the criminal legal system. Their power to bring charges, dictate the terms of plea bargains, and set the tactics deployed at trial and sentencing have been a key factor in mass incarceration. As part of its larger focus on bringing racial and criminal justice equity to the legal system, the ACLU-NJ seeks to check the power of prosecutors and to change a culture that often seeks the harshest punishment possible in any and all circumstances. 
 
Among other efforts to curb the near-limitless powers prosecutors wield, the ACLU-NJ has been instrumental in bringing about bail reform to limit the ability of prosecutors to jail people charged with crimes and in passing a law to mandate independent prosecutors when police officers kill – among other efforts to curb the near-limitless powers prosecutors wield in the criminal legal system.