OVERVIEW REPORT: The Role of Second Look Policies in Reforming California’s Approach to Incarceration 
PRESS RELEASE: New Research on People Released from Prison Under California’s Second Look Resentencing Policies
Over the past 13 years, California has implemented numerous criminal justice reforms aimed at reducing prison sentences, limiting the use of sentencing enhancements, and shrinking the state’s prison population.
The Role of Second Look Policies in Reforming California’s Approach to Incarceration
SEPTEMBER 2025
California’s resentencing policies are wide-ranging, affecting individuals serving sentences for both low-level, non-violent offenses and violent felony convictions with lengthy terms. To date, approximately 11,900 people have been resentenced
under these laws.
This research provides the first in-depth look at who is affected by these reforms and their recidivism rates. In this report and a series of accompanying policy briefs, we examine five of the most prominent resentencing policies enacted between
2012 and 2022. We present the number of people released from California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) custody under each reform, their demographic and case characteristics, and their recidivism rates. For context, we also provide summary statistics and recidivism rates for all individuals released from CDCR custody in fiscal year 2018–19.
The Second Look Movement: An Assessment of the Nation’s Sentence Review Laws
AUGUST 2025
Twenty-five states, the District of Columbia, and the federal government have enacted “second look” judicial sentence review policies to allow judges to review sentences after a person has served a lengthy period of time.