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Newshawk: Please Write a LTE www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides
Pubdate: Sun, 04 Feb 2007
Source: Clarion-Ledger, The (Jackson, MS)
Copyright: 2007 The Clarion-Ledger
Contact: http://www.clarionledger.com/news/about/letters.html
Website: http://www.clarionledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/805
Authors: Marc Mauer and Ron Welch, Special to The Clarion-Ledger
Note: Marc Mauer is the executive director of The Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C., and the author of Race to Incarcerate. Ron Welch is a Jackson attorney who represents Mississippi prisoners in a variety of class action federal court cases concerning conditions of confinement.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?244 (Sentencing - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Second+Chance+Act
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
A BALANCED POLICY NEEDED
A recent analysis from the U.S. Department of Justice reports that
Mississippi now ranks third in the nation, behind only Louisiana and
Texas, in its rate of incarceration.
This status takes on particular significance given that the United
States is now the world leader in its use of imprisonment. With over
21,000 people in prison - a 166 percent increase from the 8,000
offenders in 1990 - the state of Mississippi is spending $292 million
a year to operate this vastly expanded penal system.
While prisons clearly represent one aspect of the state's approach to
public safety, there is much reason to believe that the state could
adopt policies to slow the growth of the prison system while also
enhancing crime control. Two factors stand out in particular.
[Remainder snipped]
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
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