BALTIMORE (AP) -- Faced in recent years with burgeoning budget deficits, half of the legislatures in the country have rolled-back at least some of the get-tough on crime provisions of the past two decades, prison reform advocates were told Monday.

States have repealed mandatory sentencing laws, re-established parole, and diverted nonviolent offenders from prison and into treatment programs, said Judith A. Green, of Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

Speaking at the opening session of a two-day national conference on criminal justice reform, Green said the public appears to have reached a "tipping point" where reform efforts will continue even after the budget crisis is over.

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