Sentencing Policy

  • Ending Mass Incarceration: Charting a New Justice Reinvestment, [PDF]
    Experts from a coalition of organizations including The Sentencing Project, JFA Institute, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Justice Strategies., April, 2013
    “While JRI has played a significant role in softening the ground and moving the dial on mass incarceration reform, it runs the danger of institutionalizing mass incarceration at current levels.”
  • Gideon at 50: Three Reforms to Revive the Right to Counsel, [PDF]
    Brennan Center for Justice, April, 2013
    “Recommendations include: legalizing some petty offenses or reclassifying them into non-jailable civil infractions; increase funding for public defense; Increase effectiveness by funding regular trainings for attorneys and adding social workers.”
  • Crime, Cost, and Consequences: Is it Time to Get Smart on Crime?, [PDF]
    MassInc, Community Resources for Justice, March, 2013
    “If Massachusetts continues on the current course, the analysis contained in this report suggests the state will spend more than $2 billion over the next decade on corrections policies that produce limited public safety benefit.”
  • (New) Lifer Parole Recidivism Report [PDF]
    California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, January, 2013
    “Lifer parolees receive fewer new convictions within three years of being released to parole (4.8 vs. 51.5%, respectively). They also have a markedly lower return to prison recidivism rate than non‐lifer parolees (13.3 vs. 65.1%, respectively).”
  • The State of Sentencing 2012: Developments in Policy and Practice, [PDF]
    Sentencing Project, January, 2013
    “State lawmakers in at least 24 states adopted 41 criminal justice policies that in 2012 may contribute to downscaling prison populations and eliminating barriers to reentry while promoting effective approaches to public safety.”
  • The Anatomy of Discretion: An Analysis of Prosecutorial Decision Making, [PDF]
    Vera Institute of Justice, December, 2012
    “While prosecutorial discretion is generally seen as very broad and unconstrained, prosecutors often rely on a fairly limited array of legal and quasi-legal factors to make decisions, and are further constrained by several contextual factors.”
  • (New) Report to the Governor - 2012 [PDF]
    Oregon Commission on Public Safety, December, 2012
    “Oregon's imprisonment rate has grown at over three times the rate of the national average in the last decade. During that same period, prison admissions have grown to include increasing percentages of nonviolent offenders.”
  • Report of the Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform for Georgians [PDF]
    Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform for Georgians, November, 2012
    “The data shows that most individuals sentenced to prison are drug and property offenders, and these offenders are also staying behind bars for longer periods of time. Drug and property offenders represent almost 60 percent of all admissions.”
  • Restoration of Rights Project [Website]
    National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, October, 2012
    “54 jurisdictional profiles include provisions on loss and restoration of civil rights and firearms privileges, legal mechanisms for overcoming or mitigating collateral consequences, and provisions addressing non-discrimination in employment and licensing.”
  • 2012 Party Platforms on Criminal Justice Policy [PDF]
    Sentencing Project, September, 2012
    “Though the United States remains the world’s leader in incarceration [...], the recently approved Democratic and Republican party platforms indicate ways to make progress on criminal justice reform while increasing public safety.”
  • Census of Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories, 2009 [PDF]
    Bureau of Justice Statistics, August, 2012
    “During 2009, publicly funded crime labs began and ended the year with a total backlog of more than one million requests for forensic services.”
  • Three Strikes: The Wrong Way to Justice, [PDF]
    Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, Harvard Law School, June, 2012
    “By properly limiting the applicability of the habitual offender provisions, Massachusetts will be able to reinvest in its people through education, treatment, training, and community development programs.”
  • Survey of Sentencing Practices FY 2011 [PDF]
    Massachusetts Sentencing Commission, May, 2012
    “For state prison sentences, the median minimum state prison sentence was 36.0 months and the median maximum state prison sentence was 48.0 months.”
  • Reallocating Justice Resources A Review of 2011 State Sentencing Trends, [PDF]
    Vera Institute of Justice, March, 2012
    “Early in the current recession, many states focused only on achieving quick cost savings. Now state lawmakers are considering multiple, related policy changes that will have long-term fiscal impacts.”
  • The State of Sentencing 2011 [PDF]
    Sentencing Project, February, 2012
    “During 2011, state legislatures in at least 29 states adopted 55 criminal justice policies that may contribute to continued population reductions and address the collateral consequences associated with felony convictions.”
  • Report to Congress Mandatory Minimum Penalties in the Federal Criminal Justice System, [PDF]
    United States Sentencing Commission, October, 2011
    “[C]ertain mandatory minimum provisions apply too broadly, are set too high, or both, to warrant the prescribed minimum penalty for the full range of offenders who could be prosecuted under the particular criminal statute.”
  • Annual Report to the United States Sentencing Commission
    United States Department of Justice, July, 2011
    “In the last 50 years,the United States experienced an extraordinary increase, followed by an equally extraordinary decrease, in the number of Americans victimized by violent crime.”
  • The Lives of Juvenile Lifers: Findings from a National Survey, [PDF]
    Sentencing Project, March, 2011
    “The proportion of African Americans serving JLWOP sentences for the killing of a white person (43.4%) is nearly twice the rate at which African American juveniles are arrested for taking a white person’s life (23.2%).”
  • The State of Sentencing 2010 Developments in Policy and Practice, [PDF]
    Sentencing Project, February, 2011
    “During 2010, state legislatures in at least 23 states and the District of Columbia adopted 35 [...] policies that may contribute to reductions in the prison population and eliminate barriers to reentry while promoting effective approaches to public safety”
  • Turning the Corner Opportunities for Effective Sentencing and Correctional Practices in Arizona, [PDF]
    Justice Strategies, January, 2011
    “Arizona policymakers can restore judicial discretion to sentence people to more effective, less costly correctional supervision and treatment options in lieu of prison in cases where such measures would clearly better serve both justice and public safety.”
  • The Chicago Lawyers' Committee's Review of Alternatives for Non- Violent Offenders, [PDF]
    Chicago Lawyers' Committee, 2011
    “This article first addresses specific reforms that have been implemented nationwide relating to non-violent offenders, highlights examples of states that have implemented more aggressive aspects of such reforms, and discusses Illinois’ policies.”
  • California Sentencing Institute
    Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, November, 2010
    “comprehensive analysis of sentencing policies and practices in all of California’s 58 counties.”
    (Contains detailed county-level statistics)
  • The State of Sentencing 2009 Developments in Policy and Practice, [PDF]
    Sentencing Project, January, 2010
    “During 2009 state legislatures in at least 19 states enacted policies that hold the potential to reduce prison populations and/or promote more effective approaches to public safety.”
  • Life Without Parole A Reconsideration, [PDF]
    Criminal Justice Policy Coalition and the Norfolk Lifers Group, 2010
    “Everyone serving a Life Without Parole sentence in MA, after 25 years should be afforded an opportunity to demonstrate both a rehabilitated character and a low public safety risk through access to a parole hearing and, where appropriate, parole.”
  • No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences in America
    Sentencing Project, July, 2009
    “A record 140,610 individuals are now serving life sentences in state and federal prisons, 6,807 of whom were juveniles at the time of the crime.”
  • The State of Sentencing 2008 Developments in Policy and Practice, [PDF]
    Sentencing Project, February, 2009
    “A nationwide budget crisis coupled with widespread prison overcrowding has led many states to address critical challenges in the areas such as sentencing, drug policy, parole revocation, racial justice, disenfranchisement, juvenile justice, and education.”
  • Reaching too far, coming up short: How large sentencing enhancement zones miss the mark,
    Prison Policy Initiative, January, 2009
    “Massachusetts cannot afford to preserve a law that fails to protect children while draining the state coffers and incarcerating Latinos and Blacks at a rate 26 to 30 times as frequently as Whites.”
  • The Geography of Punishment: How Huge Sentencing Enhancement Zones Harm Communities, Fail to Protect Children,
    Prison Policy Initiative, July, 2008
    “Our analysis found that less than a third (29%) of White Hampden County residents live in enhancement zones, but that more than half (52%) of Black and Latino residents live in school zones.”
    (Finds zone law fails to move drug crimes away from schools while increasing racial disparities in sentencing.)
  • The State of Sentencing 2007: Developments in Policy and Practice,
    The Sentencing Project, January, 2008
    “Confronted with the high cost of continued prison growth, policymakers in 18 states took steps during 2007 to review the effectiveness of their criminal justice systems or institute reforms to limit recidivism and sentence lengths...”
  • Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy [PDF]
    United States Sentencing Commission, May, 2007
    “Federal cocaine sentencing policy... continues to come under almost universal criticism... and inaction in this area is of increasing concern to many, including the Commission.”
  • Changing Direction? State Sentencing Reforms 2004-2006, [PDF]
    The Sentencing Project, March, 2007
    “The report... identifies that the most popular approach for reducing prison crowding -- implemented by 13 states -- was the diversion of low-level drug offenders from prison to drug treatment programs.”
  • When "life" did not mean life A Historical Analysis of Life Sentences Imposed in Michigan Since 1900, [PDF]
    Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending, September, 2006
    “The historical record makes it indisputably clear that a life sentence in Michigan did not always mean”
  • Evaluating Fairness and Accuracy in State Death Penalty Systems: The Florida Death Penalty Assessment Report, [PDF]
    American Bar Association, September, 2006
    “[R]esearch establishes that many Florida capital jurors do not understand their role and responsibilities when deciding whether to impose a death sentence.”
  • Alabama Sentencing Commission 2006 Report [PDF]
    Alabama Sentencing Commission, January, 2006
    “Of Alabama's inmate population, almost 1 out of 3 inmates are sentenced as an habitual offender.”
  • A Primer: Three Strikes - The Impact After More Than a Decade, [PDF]
    Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) - California's Nonpartisan Fiscal and Policy Advisor, October, 2005
  • Racial Divide: California's 3 Strikes Law,
    Justice Policy Institute, October, 2004
  • No way out Michigan's parole board redefines the meaning of, [PDF]
    Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending, September, 2004
    (When judges imposed a life sentence, they assumed that the prisoner would be parolled in 10-15 years, but in the 1990's the parol board started denying parol, in effect changing the sentence, contributing to overcrowding and increasing costs of prisons.)
  • The Meaning of "Life" Long Prison Sentences in Context,
    Sentencing Project, May, 2004
  • Positive Trends in State-Level Sentencing and Corrections Policy [PDF]
    Families Against Mandatory Minimums, November, 2003
    “Texas policymakers introduced parole reforms in 2000. The parole board’s approval rate for non-violent offenders rose, parole revocations fell sharply, and prison populations dropped by 7,698 from September 2000 to December 2001.”
  • Mandatory minimum sentencing is unfair, ineffective, and expensive [PDF]
    Common Sense Foundation, April, 2003
    (North Carolina)
  • The Influences of Truth-in-Sentencing Reforms on Changes in States' Sentencing Practices and Prison Population,
    Urban Institute, April, 2002
  • Aging Behind Bars: Three Strikes, Seven Years Later, [PDF]
    Sentencing Project, August, 2001
  • Truth in Sentencing in State Prisons [PDF]
    Bureau of Justice Statistics, January, 1999
    “State sentencing law changes linked to increasing time served in State prisons”
  • Three strikes: 5 years later [PDF]
    Sentencing Project, 1998
  • Mandatory Minimum Sentences: Throwing Away the Key or the Taxpayers Money?,
    RAND Foundation, 1997
  • Three Strikes and You're Out: Estimated Benefits and Costs of California's New Mandatory-Sentencing Law,
    RAND Foundation, 1994

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