Read this paper on The State of Sentencing 2011 from The Sentencing Project.

When you have finished reading and understanding the report, please share in your opening posting the following:

• what policy or reform grabbed your attention the most and why?
• do you feel this policy or reform will be a positive change or negative, explain why. 

Offering outside resources or research to back up your position will usually guarantee you full points unless your spelling and grammar are weak

he Bureau of Justice Statistics recently reported the number of people in prison declined in 2010 for the first time since 1972; state and federal prison populations fell by more than 9,200 between 2009 and 2010, a decline of 0.6%.  Currently, more than 7.1 million men and women are under some form of correctional supervision.  The majority of persons – 4.8 million – under criminal justice supervision are in the community on probation or parole, while 2.2 million are incarcerated in prison or jail.  The United States continues to maintain the highest rate of incarceration in the world at 731 per 100,000 population. 

 

Reductions in the scale of incarceration are the result of declining crime rates and a mix of legislative and administrative policies that vary by state.  Lower demand for correctional capacity resulted in at least 13 states closing prison institutions or contemplating doing so during the past year.  One salient reason for prison closures is the reduction in state revenues caused by the recession.  According to a report by the National Governors Association, at least 40 states made cuts to correctional expenditures between 2009 and 2010 by reducing labor costs, eliminating prison programs, and making food-service changes.  Additionally, states have increasingly focused on finding ways to downscale prisons.   .