ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project

The Criminal Law Reform Project advocates for the constitutional and civil rights of those impacted by criminal legal systems. We use litigation and advocacy to confront systemic government conduct that fuels the carceral state and police abuse, and oppresses people based on race, class, and other characteristics. CLRP does this work because everyone suspected, accused, or convicted of a crime deserves dignity, fairness, and an opportunity to thrive. Ultimately, we seek to shift power to under resourced communities and to elevate approaches to justice and safety that advance fundamental rights for all. 

The Project’s current priorities are: creating robust statewide indigent defense systems to ensure that people charged with a crime have access to effective assistance of counsel; ending unnecessary and unjust pretrial detention through bail reform and other abusive pretrial practices; reforming unconstitutional and racially biased police practices; challenging prosecutorial abuses of power that result in or enable regressive and unconstitutional practices; reforming our nation’s punitive drug policies, which have failed to achieve public safety and health while eroding constitutional rights and criminalizing unprecedented numbers of people, particularly people of color; and reclaiming equal protection of the laws and guaranteeing substantive and procedural due process protections at each stage of the arrest-to-sentencing process of criminal cases. CLRP works closely with the ACLU’s Campaign for Smart Justice, which collaborates with partners to build a movement for social change, promote racial justice, and win state-based reforms needed to cut the size of our nation’s incarcerated population by 50 percent.

The Project’s legal strategies are built on the idea that fighting for civil rights means more than just persuading judges. It means partnering with impacted people and communities and changing hearts and minds. We work on the frontlines with communities most affected by overincarceration to integrate litigation with innovative public education campaigns and to develop tools to help these communities demand justice.

The Project has an unparalleled track record, having successfully litigated issues ranging from racial profiling in drug law enforcement to ending wealth-based pretrial detention to challenging prosecutorial abuses of power to protecting medical marijuana users from prosecution. We will continue that tradition of success, combining litigation, education, and community empowerment to achieve humane, racially just, and sensible policies that respect basic human rights and the liberties enshrined in our nation’s Constitution.

Staff of the Criminal Law Reform Project

Brandon Buskey, Director
Emma Andersson, Deputy Director
Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, Deputy Project Director on Policing
Molly Kovel, Senior Staff Attorney
Trisha Trigilio, Senior Staff Attorney
Andrea Woods, Staff Attorney
Julian Clark, Staff Attorney
Ashika Verriest, Senior Staff Attorney
Allison Frankel, Staff Attorney
Kevin Chen, Paralegal
Clio Gates, Legal Administrative Assistant
Ilyana Benjelloun, Paralegal