In 2013, drug offenders made up less than 16 percent of the state prison population, whereas violent felons were 54 percent of the rolls and property offenders, 19 percent.
Federal prisons hold only 13 percent of the nation's prison population.
Even during the most rapid period of prison growth-from 1980 to 1990-violent prisoners accounted for 36 percent of the rise in the state prison population, compared with 33 percent from drug offenders.
The JFA Institute estimated in 2007 that in only 3 percent of violent victimizations and property crimes does the offender end up in prison.
Among convicted violent felons in 2009, 17 percent received community supervision and 27 percent were sentenced to jail, leaving 57 percent on their way to prison.
Anti-incarceration advocates point to the divergent paths of crime and imprisonment in the 1980s to argue against the role of prison in the 1990s crime drop; University of California at Berkeley law professor Franklin Zimring has argued that it was not until the 1990s that the prison buildup reached its most effective incapacitative strength and kicked in as a sustained antidote to lawlessness.
If the country is really serious about lowering the prison count it is going to have to put aside the fictions about the prison population.
In 2011, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 43 percent of new admissions to state prisons were sentenced to two to four years; 57 percent of all prisoners had sentences of four years or less.
In Iowa, class B felonies like armed robbery have a 25-year prison sentence, of which at least 70 percent must be served.
Cutting the time served by violent felons in New Jersey state prisons by 15 percent, for example, would lower the prison population there by only 7 percent by 2021.
Could the Swift and Certain principle provide the key to unlocking prisons, by so closely regulating offenders' behavior in the community that they can remain there without needing long-term confinement in prison or jail? Perhaps, but the implementation challenges are great.
https://www.city-journal.org/html/decriminalization-delusion-14037.html
Federal prisons hold only 13 percent of the nation's prison population.
Even during the most rapid period of prison growth-from 1980 to 1990-violent prisoners accounted for 36 percent of the rise in the state prison population, compared with 33 percent from drug offenders.
The JFA Institute estimated in 2007 that in only 3 percent of violent victimizations and property crimes does the offender end up in prison.
Among convicted violent felons in 2009, 17 percent received community supervision and 27 percent were sentenced to jail, leaving 57 percent on their way to prison.
Anti-incarceration advocates point to the divergent paths of crime and imprisonment in the 1980s to argue against the role of prison in the 1990s crime drop; University of California at Berkeley law professor Franklin Zimring has argued that it was not until the 1990s that the prison buildup reached its most effective incapacitative strength and kicked in as a sustained antidote to lawlessness.
If the country is really serious about lowering the prison count it is going to have to put aside the fictions about the prison population.
In 2011, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 43 percent of new admissions to state prisons were sentenced to two to four years; 57 percent of all prisoners had sentences of four years or less.
In Iowa, class B felonies like armed robbery have a 25-year prison sentence, of which at least 70 percent must be served.
Cutting the time served by violent felons in New Jersey state prisons by 15 percent, for example, would lower the prison population there by only 7 percent by 2021.
Could the Swift and Certain principle provide the key to unlocking prisons, by so closely regulating offenders' behavior in the community that they can remain there without needing long-term confinement in prison or jail? Perhaps, but the implementation challenges are great.
https://www.city-journal.org/html/decriminalization-delusion-14037.html
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