Promoting Smart Decarceration as a Grand Challenge

A resurgence of scholarship on transforming the criminal justice system and reducing the overreliance on incarceration occurred during the first decade of the 21st century. This scholarship situated the expansive reach of the criminal justice system and the need for reform within the realities of structural racism and pervasive substantial health and social disparities. Redburn, et al. 2014 focuses on the effects of mass incarceration on individuals and society as a whole, while Epperson, et al. 2018 discusses evidence-based alternatives to incarceration when introducing the concept of smart decarceration. Pettus-Davis 2021 discusses several contributors to mass incarceration and guiding principles for criminal justice reform and decarceration. Grady 2021 examines a qualitative study with correctional practitioners regarding how to promote the smart decarceration initiative. Racial disparities driving injustices in contemporary criminal justice approaches became a national discussion after a highly visible police shooting of an unarmed Black man—Michael Brown—in Ferguson, Missouri (see United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division 2015).