About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


1 1 (January 2018)

handle is hein.amenin/aeiabtp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: y ohn F. Pfaff januar .]8 -[his brief explains how Congress and the president can best help reduce ur ouatris outsized eliarnce on imiprisoirent, a goal with ire, ridesp-ead bparisan st:pport. Sr',ce[i fitretios vil need to target issm.es that previous efots h.ave overlooked cer ignored, and they weil need • ke betr- acount cottc . it -oru ways that Costs, benefits, and responsibit;ies are fractuted acriss city, county, state, and ederai governtents If designed oroOeiy, :, - ed:ea efi-t rcoudpa mrtt ro1 H ; pasing oe rericattire syIe to adorpt Wri efei Weast, as wi as aote hum-none, aopto.,ches ID manarg and reducing ,c~:r-. Despite some of the most extreme ideological dihides ia modem tines, bt) chlambers of ngress have .ecently . ade genuine bipartisan efforts to ref01 on 1natio:s cdiAfla justice syste, esjjetally its reliance on incarceration, The need for such reform is dea The U ited States bas the lighest incarcc- ation. rate in the world, detaifning neany 5 percent of the wiATf's prisoners, and we surely lead the world when it comes to the fration of people with any sort of crinnai record or colniction. And a g owing b'ody of research suggests that in carceraon does not provide the pubi'c-safety returns that its pro- potint[s -,i'b., So far, most congressional effot''s have focused on fi,,tug th- federal svte a While much is wrong wjtl the federal system, it is ntinately a reJatvely minor player in crininal jst'ote: State systems hold acarly 90 percent of all prisoners and far greater percentages of pretrial deta'nees, parolees, and pro- bationers, it is thus eicotmitg to see that on recent federal proposal. the Reverse Mass Incarceraon Act (RMIA), takes direct aim at the higger state Technically, the US has the second-highest incarceration rate, with the Seychelles in first, Bat the Seychelles has feer than 700 people in prison or jail, compared to over a i-illion in the US (World Prison Brief, icd)oShannon et al, (z01) report that 2 perceT of the adult US population has been to prison, and 8 percent have a felony con'.c ion; for Adrican Americans, those percentages are i5 percent and 33 percent. The most carrent, comprehensive rex. ewa of the literature on the cnn.ime-reduci.g impact of incarcerton is Roodnian 2oi, which suggests it has a nminina inpact, certainly during our curacnt period of high in.carcerantion rates and low cime rates. For example, see the Smarter Sentencing Act; tlhe Corrections Oversight, Recidivism Reduction, and Eliminating Costs for Taxpayers in Our National System Act; the Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effct'JVC Jlstice Act; and the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, A Smarter Approach to Federal Assistance with State-Level Criminal justice R eform