Pubdate: Tue, 23 Apr 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Section: National Briefing
Author: Barbara Whitaker
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

CALIFORNIA: FEWER DRUG OFFENDERS GO TO JAIL

An initiative that calls for treatment rather than jail for nonviolent drug 
offenders is being credited by corrections officials as a major factor 
behind a drop in female inmates. According to the state Department of 
Corrections, the number of women in the penal system dropped 10 percent in 
the last year, to less than 10,000. Most nonviolent drug offenders are 
being sent into treatment as a result of Proposition 36, which passed in 
2000. Some legal experts said it was too early to determine the effects of 
the law, attributing the decreasing population to years of falling crime rates.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom