Criminal Legal System

America’s criminal legal system is rooted in excessively punitive policies that have resulted in over-criminalization, mass incarceration, and racial injustice, with the brunt of harms disproportionately falling on people of color, as well as immigrants, people with low-incomes, and LGBTQ+ people.

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America’s criminal legal system is rooted in excessively punitive policies that have resulted in over-criminalization, mass incarceration, and racial injustice, with the brunt of harms disproportionately falling on people of color, especially Black Americans, as well as immigrants, people with low-incomes, and LGBTQ+ people.

The ACLU-NJ works to make our criminal legal system more just with a guiding vision of racial justice. We challenge the imbalances of power and the discrimination that have come to define our country’s criminal legal system. We push to re-envision of the role of police in our communities, confront the disproportionate power of prosecutors in criminal cases, and advocate for the decarceration of New Jersey’s jails and prisons – which have the worst Black-white disparity of any state in the nation.

The Latest

News & Commentary
A police car with flashing red and blue lights is parked on a street. The background shows a blurred view of trees and a building at dusk.

Modernizing New Jersey’s Traffic Code Will Improve Public Safety and Promote Racial Justice

Instead of pulling people over for air fresheners and broken taillights, New Jersey should focus its resources on addressing dangerous driving, preventing accidents, and saving lives.
News & Commentary
state house

How We Advocate for Our Communities in the Legislature

Yesterday, we testified on the importance of restricting solitary confinement, reforming parole, and more – but our work isn’t done.
Press Release
Press Release ACLU of New Jersey

New Jersey Assembly Committee Advances Legislation to Prioritize Treatment Over Incarceration

SAARA would expand alternatives to incarceration for people on supervision who struggle with addiction, strengthen due process, and create a clearer path to successful completion.
Issue Areas: Criminal Legal System
News & Commentary
shutterstockpolicecar

The Newark Consent Decree: Forging a Path Toward Police Accountability and Racial Justice

Police reform has been a key issue for the ACLU of New Jersey since our founding in 1960 in Newark, the state’s largest city, which has a long and painful history of grappling with the harms of a police department operating with impunity.
Campaign
Aug 2025

The Clemency Project

The ACLU of New Jersey has launched The Clemency Project as an integral part of a larger decarcerative vision that centers racial and social justice – and reimagines the criminal legal system as we know it.
Campaign
Aug 2025

Pursuing the End of Mass Incarceration in New Jersey

How decarceration can embody liberty and justice for all.
Campaign
Aug 2025

COVID-19: What It Means For Your Rights

We at the ACLU of New Jersey are monitoring to make sure that government actions reflect public health and scientific evidence – not fear. And we’re monitoring to make sure that our rights – and in particular, the rights of the most vulnerable – remain intact.