![The U.S. contains 5% of the world's population, but contains 25% of the world's prison population](http://web.archive.org./web/20231127042330im_/https://www.aclu-wa.org/sites/default/files/styles/panel_pane_square_image/public/smart-justice-population.png?itok=JQIVGmQg)
We lock up too many people, for too long, often with little thought of the lasting impacts of incarceration. This isn’t justice. We must do better. Smart Justice advocates for alternatives that are fair, more effective, and less costly than incarceration. It replaces unnecessarily punitive measures with approaches that emphasize repairing the harms caused by crimes.