Overview

After decades of a “tough on crime” approach to law enforcement at the federal and state level, the ACLU turned to Tulchin Research as one of its partners to engage in a proactive push to change this dynamic and promote more progressive criminal justice policies.

What We Did

For the past several years, we have been conducting qualitative and quantitative research for the ACLU and its allies in their broad-based efforts to reform the criminal justice system in California and other states. This research has involved a wide range of policies including reforming drug laws from marijuana legalization to reducing the crimes associated with other drugs and diverting more resources to prevention and treatment; reducing racial profiling and the excessive use of force by police officers; instilling more transparency and accountability in policing; reducing the presence of police in schools and prioritizing counselors and violence reduction instead; and reforming the “money bail” system to more accurately take flight risk into account rather than a defendant’s net worth. As part of this effort, we have provided message development, targeting guidance and directly aided in their advocacy efforts by providing polling memos intended for public release to the media and elected officials as well as briefed the media, elected officials and community leaders on our poll findings. With some successes achieved, our work continues.