The Sentencing Project

Marc Mauer. Marc Mauer is one of the country’s leading experts on sentencing policy, race and the criminal justice system. He has directed programs on criminal justice policy reform for 30 years, and is the author of some of the most widely-cited reports and publications in the field, including Young Black Men and the Criminal Justice System, and the Americans Behind Bars… See full bio.

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Story: Andres Idarraga is a 29-year-old junior at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He has become a prominent advocate for restoring the right to vote to thousands disenfranchised in Rhode Island because of a felony conviction. But Andres' commitment to the cause is deeply personal. Andres himself could not vote because of a felony conviction received when he was 20 years old. As of November 2006, with the passing of a ballot referendum, voters helped decide current Rhode Island law which now allows individuals with felony convictions to vote immediately after being released from prison. Prior to that, they could not vote until they had completed parole and probation. “I went to register to vote the other day,” Andres recalled. “It feels good to be a part of the democratic process. It was very fulfilling, but truthfully, I had mixed feelings. I thought, ‘why did I have to work so hard just to sign this little piece of paper.’ Andres views the right to vote as a significant and crucial aspect to rebuilding his life and to contributing to his community. After spending six and a half years in prison, Andres has made strides on the path to making a difference. Since his release in June of 2004, Andres has become a full-time student at Brown University studying comparative literature and economics while maintaining full time employment. “I knew education and voting and being responsible to the community were extremely pressing issues for myself,” Andres told USA Today. Andres continuously spoke out on the personal and political consequences of felon disenfranchisement and worked alongside several voting rights organizations in Rhode Island to support the November 2006 state ballot initiative that restored the right to vote to individuals immediately after they leave prison. Prior to November, more than 15,500 residents of Rhode Island could not vote due to a felony conviction. An overwhelming 86 percent of those individuals were, like Andres, not in prison. Furthermore, the racial implications of Rhode Island's felony disenfranchisement laws were extremely problematic: one in five Black men and one in eleven Hispanic men could not vote. Now that the rights of these individuals have been restored, other states can look to Rhode Island as an example in re-enfranchisement. “I do know I have enjoyed the journey and enjoyed the process of being able to turn my life around. It feels great to see the spectrum what our entire society has to offer … from the underbelly, to the very privileged setting being at Brown. I’m learning how to put it to good use and give back to society and that starts with participating in the democratic process and encouraging others to vote.”

Evidence of Impact Summary:

The Sentencing Project is mentioned by experts as a primary source of information on racism in the criminal justice system, the ill effects of over-incarceration, and cocaine-related sentencing disparities. The Sentencing Project is praised for the successes it has had in the realm of policy reform through reliable reports and thorough research.
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Organization Strengths Summary:

TSP has been commended for its unique ability to connect with Congressional leaders, the public, and the media. Other strengths include its strong leadership, specifically under the guidance of Marc Mauer, and the high quality of research and reports that the organization produces.
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Areas for Improvement Summary:

The Sentencing Project can improve their fundraising strategies and can increase their impact by focusing on more state and local causes. Experts have also noted that TSP could strengthen its social media outreach and its visibility.
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Marc Mauer is one of the country’s leading experts on sentencing policy, race and the criminal justice system. He has directed programs on criminal justice policy reform for 30 years, and is the author of some of the most widely-cited reports and publications in the field, including Young Black Men and the Criminal Justice System, and the Americans Behind Bars series comparing international rates of incarceration. His 1995 report on racial disparity and the criminal justice system led the New York Times to editorialize that the report “should set off alarm bells from the White House to city halls – and help reverse the notion that we can incarcerate our way out of fundamental social problems.” Race to Incarcerate, Mauer’s groundbreaking book on how sentencing policies led to the explosive expansion of the U.S. prison population, was a semifinalist for the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award in 1999, and revised in 2006. Mauer is also the co-editor of Invisible Punishment, a 2002 collection of essays by prominent criminal justice experts on the social cost of imprisonment. Mauer began his work in criminal justice with the American Friends Service Committee in 1975, and served as the organization’s National Justice Communications Coordinator. Since joining The Sentencing Project in 1987, he has testified before Congress and state legislatures, frequently appears on radio and television networks, and is regularly interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, National Public Radio, and many other major media outlets. He has served as an adjunct faculty member at George Washington University and Payne Theological Seminary, as well as a consultant to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the National Institute of Justice, and the American Bar Association’s Committee on Race and the Criminal Justice System. In 2005, he became Executive Director of The Sentencing Project. Mauer has received the Helen L. Buttenweiser Award from the Fortune Society (1991), the Donald Cressey Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency for contributions to criminal justice research (1996), the Alfred R. Lindesmith Award from the Drug Policy Alliance for achievement in drug policy scholarship (2003), the Maud Booth Correctional Services Award from Volunteers of America (20080, the John Augustus Award from the National Association of Sentencing Advocates (2009), and the Margaret Mead Award from the International Community Corrections Association (2009). A graduate of Stony Brook University, where he received his bachelor’s degree, Mauer earned his Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan.

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