States Easing Up on Locking Up
May 21, 2017
5/21/17 – Even as the US Attorney General is instructing federal prosecutors to treat drug crimes more harshly, lawmakers in a growing number of states are taking a different approach by locking up fewer people. Their actions, which reflect the latest evidence on how to reduce mass incarceration while protecting the public, as described recently in Issues, include reducing penalties for drug possession and other low-level crimes, allowing judges to sentence people to probation or drug treatment instead of prison, and reducing some mandatory minimum sentences.