New York’s criminal justice system ensnares thousands of people each year. Police make arrests for minor misbehavior, officer misconduct goes unpunished, and people spend months behind bars awaiting trial. Criminal records follow people for life, limiting job prospects, access to housing, and benefits, and inhumane incarceration results in trauma. Black and brown New Yorkers disproportionately bear the weight of an unfair system.

The NYCLU works to reduce the number of New Yorkers who are arrested and incarcerated, to hold police officers and law enforcement accountable, and to make sure everyone accused of a crime gets a fair trial.