Some criminal justice experts say major reforms have been adopted in America’s criminal justice system, but others say changes have been modest, according to The Crime Report.
The report says it asked some key experts to assess the progress so far, and reactions were decidedly mixed.
“One preliminary conclusion: ‘tweaking’ certain policies doesn’t work when it comes to meaningfully solving America’s mass incarceration problem. But another — more optimistic assessment — is that states have come a long way in changing a massive system that took decades to build,” The Crime Report said.
The report said lawmakers acknowledged that these strategies were both costly to taxpayers and ineffective in reducing crime despite two decades of tough-on-crime policies.
This realization prompted legislatures in various states to repeal harsh mandatory minimum drug sentences, to create alternatives to incarceration, and to reduce penalties on repeat offenders.
“We are really starting to see a culture shift in which policymakers are becoming eager to base decisions on data and evidence rather than emotion or ideology,” said Adam Gelb, director of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety Performance Project. “There’s been a tremendous amount of progress, but there’s still a long way to go.”
“Most states have not made any progress,” said James Austin of the JFA Institute. “Those that are making some progress, it’s been pretty miniscule.”
Researchers claimed minor changes to sentencing and parole policies by states have not significantly resolved the mass incarceration problem, the report stated.
“What’s being done is these little tiny tweaking around the edges and then making big projections,” said Michael Tonry, director of the Institute on Crime and Public Policy at the University of Minnesota.
“Criminal court cases have dropped by 16 percent in the last decade, but the number of people who are incarcerated is still rising,” said Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Ky. “If we don’t do anything to solve that problem, nothing is going to change.”
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that the U.S. has more than 1.3 million prisoners. The report noted that in the last decade, the number of prisoners showed no significant decrease.
The Sentencing Project analysis showed states’ progress in handling the growing prison population has been “relatively modest,” The Report revealed.
In recent years California has focused its reform efforts on repeat, elderly and youth offenders.
Some San Quentin prisoners observed that one category of offender has been overlooked.
“If reform efforts are being done categorically, it just makes sense that first-time offenders should be included as well,” inmate Son Nguyen said in an interview.
