Criminal Law Reform
The ACLU of Iowa believes the criminal legal system must be reformed.
What you need to know
87 percent
87 percent of people jailed in Iowa in 2015 were awaiting trial and had not been convicted of a crime.
9.1 times
A Black person in Iowa is 9.1 times more likely to be put in prison than a white person.
We fight to end harsh policies and racial inequities in the criminal legal system so that all Iowans are treated fairly under the law.
Iowa relies on the criminal legal system to address problems like drug addiction, mental illness, poverty, and underfunded schools. But this band-aid fix has wasted trillions of taxpayer dollars and led to mass incarceration—keeping too many people locked away for far too long.
We must change the criminal legal system to ensure true justice for all. This includes a recognition of systemic racism and fixing broken public defense systems, bail practices, police misconduct, prosecutorial abuses of power, and punitive drug policies.
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