As states grapple with the fiscal crisis and confront costly and overburdened criminal justice systems, two reports released today by The Sentencing Project offer roadmaps to successful prison downsizing that maintain public safety. The reports document a growing trend to reform sentencing policies and scale back the use of imprisonment in order to control spending.

Legislation to ease the harsh mandatory minimum sentences for low-level crack cocaine offenses passed unanimously out of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.  The Fair Sentencing Act of 2009 would address the controversial 100 to 1 sentencing quantity disparity between crack and powder cocaine by increasing the amount of crack cocaine necessary to trigger a mandatory minimum sentence but still maintain a disparity between powder cocaine and crack cocaine offenses.

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary will host a hearing on H.R. 3335, the Democracy Restoration Act of 2009 Tuesday, March 16 at 2pm in the Rayburn House Office Building, Rm. 2141.

The Democracy Restoration Act of 2009 introduced last summer, would restore voting rights to millions of Americans with past felony convictions. An estimated 5.3 million citizens cannot vote as a result of felony convictions, and nearly 4 million of those individuals are living and working in their communities.

Members of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) from across the nation today joined Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) and leading Judiciary Committee members, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Arlen Specter (D-PA), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), to push for final passage of the National Criminal Justice Commission Act, S. 714. The legislation, introduced by Senator Webb on March 26, 2009, was voted out of the Judiciary Committee January 19, and awaits a vote on the Senate floor.

"In the rush to save money in grim budgetary times, states nationwide have trimmed their prison populations by expanding parole programs and early releases. But the result — more convicted felons on the streets, not behind bars — has unleashed a backlash, and state officials now find themselves trying to maneuver between saving money and maintaining the public’s sense of safety," the New York Times reported.

“We can live in fear and make bad policy based on fear,” said Patricia L. Caruso, director of the Michigan Department of Corrections, “or we can have some backbone and make policy based on what really helps our communities.”

As states grapple with the fiscal crisis and confront costly and overburdened criminal justice systems, two reports released today by The Sentencing Project offer roadmaps to successful prison downsizing that maintain public safety. The reports document a growing trend to reform sentencing policies and scale back the use of imprisonment in order to control spending.