Ending mass incarceration remains one of the most pressing policy imperatives of our generation. Over the last few years, there have been astonishing, bipartisan improvements made to reform our criminal justice system, and our elected leaders need to use that progress to better help navigate this political moment through election season and beyond, as it will help win elections, protect freedom, and move justice forward.

As the focus of the campaign trail turns to the upcoming Republican and Democratic National Conventions, leaders of both parties will spend ample time laying out their vision for public safety. That is why the media must lean on experts who can defend justice against anyone who seeks to scapegoat criminal justice reforms and push a counterfactual narrative that misrepresents the popularity and effectiveness of reducing our prison and jail populations.

• We have won a lot, against the odds. Since the peak of incarceration in 2009, safe and effective criminal justice reforms have reduced the number of people in prison by 24 percent. Despite that progress, the story about our current political landscape is incomplete without addressing Americans’ overwhelming demands for a criminal justice system that does not impede economic empowerment, separate families, or advance safety.

• We will be safer without mass incarceration: While many Americans have felt the effects of the country’s serious, long-term violence problem, with particularly devastating effects in Black and Brown communities, we are much, much safer as a country than we were 30 years ago. And we know that advancing real public safety solutions must be coupled with decades of research showing that mass incarceration is among the most expensive and least effective ways to advance public safety. National polling confirmed the vast majority of Americans support criminal justice reform and are more likely to support elected officials who stand up for safety and justice.

• Voters want safety solutions over mass incarceration: Not only are we seeing overwhelming research against more incarceration, nearly 2 in 3 voters believe that mass incarceration contributes to social problems that lead to unsafe communities like homelessness, drug and mental health challenges, and poverty, as opposed to only 1 in 17 who believe that locking more people up leads to safer communities. Voters prefer messages focused on safety solutions as opposed to tough-on-crime rhetoric. This election season, it’s critical candidates listen to voters and articulate their plans to continue advancing evidence-based criminal justice reforms and affirm that justice and safety go hand-in-hand.

We urge you to reach out to the team at FWD.us for the most recent polling and data, national and local policy expertise, and political analysis on how our elected officials can win and build the safer and more just country that all Americans want and deserve.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions to press@fwd.us.