Reform · Initiatives
Reform initiatives
Concrete laws, programmes, and pilots that have changed (or attempted to change) how a country incarcerates. Each is editorial — we cite primary sources where possible.
- State of Exception and mass incarceration under Bukeleactive2022–ongoing
El Salvador · sentencing
Since March 2022 El Salvador has been under a continuous 'state of exception' that suspends key procedural rights, allowing mass arrest of suspected gang members. The prison population has tripled, making El Salvador the world's most-incarcerated country (per capita) by a wide margin. The mega-prison CECOT, opened in 2023, holds 40,000+ people in conditions widely criticised by Human Rights Watch and the UN.
- First Step Actactive2018–ongoing
United States · sentencing
Bipartisan federal legislation that reduced mandatory minimums for some drug offences, expanded earned-time credits for participation in rehabilitative programmes, and retroactively applied the Fair Sentencing Act's crack/powder cocaine disparity reduction.
- Drug-trafficking penalty amendmentsactive2017–ongoing
Iran · sentencing
A 2017 amendment to Iran's anti-drug law raised the quantity thresholds for the mandatory death penalty for drug offences. Sentences for thousands of prisoners on death row for drug offences were reviewed.
- Proposition 47 — reclassifying nonviolent drug/property crimesactive2014–ongoing
United States · sentencing
California voters approved Proposition 47 in 2014, downgrading six categories of nonviolent property and drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanours, with savings reinvested in mental health, drug treatment, and victim services.