The following article “A Nation Divided on Sentencing Reform” appeared on the Mass Incarceration and Other Bad Ideas Substack and is written by Keith Wallington.
Excerpts appear below.
Across the country, 2026 is shaping up to be a defining year for sentencing reform, but not in the way many advocates had hoped.
This is not a moment of steady progress. It is a moment of divergence.
In some states, policymakers are advancing reforms grounded in evidence, second chances, and a more complete understanding of public safety. In others, leaders are doubling down on rigid sentencing structures that prioritize punishment over fairness, even when decades of research show those approaches do little to make communities safer.
The question facing the country is no longer whether reform is possible. It is whether policymakers are willing to follow the data or retreat from it.
In states like Maryland, Michigan, Washington, New Jersey, and New York, momentum is building behind policies that allow courts to revisit long sentences, expand parole eligibility, and strengthen pathways to second chances.
In states like Georgia, Alabama, Iowa, and Missouri, lawmakers are advancing proposals that move in the opposite direction, including efforts to expand mandatory minimums, eliminate parole eligibility, and lengthen already excessive prison terms. In Virginia, reform efforts have stalled under similar political pressures and public safety narratives.
What is driving this divide is not simply policy disagreement. It is a narrative rooted in fear and an unhealthy attachment to punishment.
If 2026 has made anything unmistakably clear, it is that sentencing reform in the United States is no longer moving along a single trajectory. The country is being pulled in two different directions.
One vision, guided by evidence and human dignity, recognizes that accountability and rehabilitation are both essential to community safety. The other, driven by fear and partisanship, continues to cling to the idea that more punishment equals more safety despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Sentencing reform has always been a question of values. In 2026, the choice is clear: whether policymakers will follow evidence, invest in safety strategies that work, and recognize the human capacity for change, or continue repeating punitive approaches that history and research have already shown to fail.
Read the full article, “A Nation Divided on Sentencing Reform” on the Mass Incarceration and Other Bad Ideas Substack.
Keith Wallington is a Senior Campaign Strategist at The Sentencing Project. His work centers on advancing policies to abolish life without parole, expand second-look sentencing reviews, cap excessive sentences at 20 years, and eliminate mandatory minimums.
