The Lab

New polling shows wide support among Oregon voters for legislation that could lead to shorter sentences for domestic violence victims.

New polling found majority support for full decriminalization of sex work as the Oregon legislature considers House Bill 3088.

The DOJ and its power to unilaterally shape the federal criminal legal system, should be a driving force for dramatic, high-impact change.

More than half of Maryland’s likely voters want to repeal its Law Enforcement Bill of Rightsm, to thwart inquiries and discipline for police wrongdoing.

New polling shows that Texas voters are overwhelmingly united in support of direct cash assistance to those most affected by the storm.

A new poll shows that Maryland voters want to guarantee a right to counsel for those facing eviction, similar to the right to counsel for criminal cases.

A new statewide poll shows that Marylanders support removing the governor from the parole process.

New polling shows that MD voters support ensuring children have a chance of release and are protected from coercive police interrogations.

The felony murder rule has a long and complicated history that is worth examining precisely because it’s not that simple.

Addressing extreme housing precarity requires more than rental assistance; it requires an overhaul of the system and redress of the longstanding discriminatory housing policies that led to this moment.

The latest frontier in drug reform has been the loosening of legal restrictions on psilocybin—the psychoactive compound in “magic mushrooms.”

Prosecutor associations consistently wield their policy influence to oppose the growing movement for criminal justice reform.

By prioritizing incarcerated people and correctional officers in COVID-19 vaccine plans, we will better be able to stem the virus, protect our most vulnerable, and our community at large.

New statewide polling shows that a majority of CA voters have an unfavorable view of the CDAA, distrust the organization, and believe that it is most interested in protecting its own members over the public.

Crime-free housing ordinances are part of a legacy of local laws and policies used to perpetuate racial segregation in housing, policies which have outlived both chattel slavery and Jim Crow.

According to new polling, voters overwhelmingly want a fairer process in eviction cases.

A new poll shows that a majority of likely voters want Congress to pass the “Wall Street Tax Act,” federal legislation that would promote equity, fairness, and raise revenue through a tax on trades of certain financial instruments.

New polling shows substantial support for a number of measures that will dramatically reduce the county jail’s population amid the surging threat posed by COVID-19.

For years, Wall Street has been increasingly out of touch and billionaires have not helped the millions of Americans in dire need. To start, Congress should immediately pass the Wall Street Tax Act, which would tax the sort of high-speed trading that has turned the financial sector into a casino at the expense of our communities.

A new poll shows substantial support among Los Angeles County voters for a number of measures to reduce the jail population.

While Governor Gavin Newsom prepares to name California’s next attorney general, a new statewide poll shows overwhelming, bipartisan support for an attorney general who is independent from the police and prioritizes police accountability. 

With soaring unemployment, stagnant wages, and historic income inequality, the transition from living at home to financial independence is often a long and arduous one, and perhaps impossible without a family safety net. That transition is even more difficult for children in foster care.

Detaining people who pose no danger to the public in crowded, unsanitary jails and prisons not only endangers those who are incarcerated, it also subjects staff and the broader community to needless risk as new, more virulent strains of COVID-19 make their way into the United States. 

The attorney general is the top law enforcement officer in the state, a position that comes with broad authority and discretion.

The high-stakes litigation involves issues ranging from whether the companies deceived the public about climate change to fine points of federal jurisdiction.

New Jersey voters broadly support their senators recommending more civil rights lawyers and public defenders to serve on the federal judicial bench.

Voters in New York and California—two states with large numbers of federal judicial vacancies—overwhelmingly support their senators recommending more civil rights lawyers and public defenders for the federal bench. 

A new national poll shows that a majority of American voters support supplementing the existing social safety net with targeted, direct cash payments at the local level.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting financial crisis have exposed the fragility and gaps within the American caregiving model.

To make real progress on immigration, the president must address not just four years of bad policy, but the last 40 years.

Today, more than 44 million Americans hold a total of about $1.6 trillion in student debt, creating significant financial hardship that had reached crisis proportions even before the pandemic triggered massive job losses. 

Consumer protection laws can pick up where the Affordable Care Act left off.

In a survey of a selection of frontline districts, including many that flipped for Republicans in 2020, majorities of voters expressed support for progressive reforms on healthcare, the environment, and policing. In other words, the very policies blamed for electoral defeats in frontline districts in fact have majority support among those same voters.

New polling from Data for Progress and The Lab, a policy vertical of The Appeal, shows that voters across party lines overwhelmingly support direct payments of $2,000.

There is also a growing bipartisan consensus that we send too many people to prison for too long, and clemency is one tool that can be used to limit the carceral state. Unfortunately, the process by which clemency petitions are evaluated is fundamentally broken.

Voters of all stripes—Democrats, Republicans, and independents—support a range of policies by overwhelming margins.

The old-school default of keeping people who are presumed innocent in jail unless they can afford bail has always been unfair, destructive, and dangerous, and that is especially true amid a pandemic that poses a unique threat to incarcerated people.