State Didn't Get Into Jam by Accident
Publication: Lansing State Journal
Author: Lansing State Journal Editorial Board
09/13/2009 - The remarkable rise in corrections spending (to more than $50 billion nationwide in 2008) wasn't fate or even the natural consequence of spikes in crime. It was the result of state policy choices that sent more people to prison and kept them there longer," wrote the authors of "One in 31," a 2009 report by the Pew Center on the States.
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Combine these policy changes with a political and public culture that emphasizes the perception of "get tough" practices over the reality of eventual release for almost all prisoners and a huge, costly prison system results.
To read the full editorial "State Didn't Get Into Jam by Accident," visit lansingstatejournal.com
