An unprecedented coalition of Millennials and Millennial organizations from across the political spectrum—Democrats, Republicans, Progressives, Conservatives, Libertarians, Independents—are unified in our message to all Presidential, Congressional, State, and Local candidates:

If you want our vote in 2016, put forward a bold, comprehensive vision to end mass incarceration in America.

Our generation grew up during an astonishing and misguided experiment in over-incarceration, and we have watched that experiment fail. Today, the United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world.

We have 5% of the world’s population, but almost 25% of the world’s prisoners at a cost of $80 billion per year.

It wasn’t always this way. Since the arrival of the millennial generation in the 1980s, there has been a 1000% increase in the incarcerated population. Mass incarceration has had a strikingly disparate impact on poor and minority communities. While making up only 30% of the US population, racial minorities comprise 60% of those locked behind bars and, on average, receive harsher sentences for the same crimes.

Today, Millennials bear a disproportionate burden of this failed system.

Mass incarceration creates a vicious cycle of injustice that has left a terrible wake of broken families and wasted potential. More money spent on prisons and jails often means less funding for public schools and universities, victim services, and proper policing. The 1 in 3 Americans that have a criminal record face barriers to employment, housing, student financial aid, PELL grants and voting that make it more difficult to live a meaningful and law-abiding life.  And mass incarceration feeds on the most vulnerable populations, with widespread discrimination and mistreatment of LGBT youth and immigrant populations.

This is an economic, moral and human catastrophe that has robbed millions of their freedoms and failed to make us safer.

We refuse to accept a justice system that destroys lives rather than rebuilding them.  

We refuse to accept the standard partisan fighting and bickering that all too often prevents substantive change.

We demand changes that reflect the following guiding principles:

• Stop warehousing the mentally ill and addicted: Treat drug abuse as a medical problem and encourage community-based alternatives to incarceration.
• Reduce overly harsh sentencing: Let judges judge, and bring the capacity for compassion back into the courtroom. by eliminating mandatory minimum sentencing that have contributed to much of the increase in the prison population.
• End the school-to-prison pipeline: Ensure that schools are places of learning, not fear and punishment.
• Make policing work for everyone: Incentivize policing that is fair, accountable, and effective, and create policies that strengthen ties between law enforcement and communities.
• Provide the tools for everyone to succeed: Expand opportunities for education and job training in prisons, and remove barriers to employment, education and voting for those who have served their time

Now is the time for action.

Young Americans are prepared to mobilize across party and ideological lines in support of bipartisan legislation for bold and comprehensive criminal justice reform.

Together, we believe that this moment offers a once-in-a generation opportunity to transform the lives and communities of millions of people. 

We are ready to turn a corner.

As the largest voting bloc in the upcoming election, we call on both political parties and all candidates for public office to commit to fixing our broken criminal justice system.