Abstract The United States currently has the highest incarceration rate in the world. At present, there are some 2.3 million people in American prisons and jails— a 500% increase over the last four decades. In this introduction to the Handbook of Issues in Criminal Justice Reform in the United States, we will review how tough crime policies have exacerbated racial inequity and poverty, leading to mass incarceration and bringing the criminal justice system to a breaking point. Bringing together experts from diverse disciplines, we propose a holistic framework for reforming the criminal justice system focusing on five main domains: (1) policing; (2) policy/sentencing; (3) reentry; (4) treatment; and (5) alternatives to incarceration. This introduction will conclude with a review of seminal reform issues that will address the five domains of the Handbook.