NZ Prisons Should Follow US Example - Rethinking Crime and Puniishment

“I never thought the day would come when I would point to the USA penal system as a model of innovative thinking”, says Kim Workman, of Rethinking Crime and Punishment. “For the first time since 1972, it looks as though there will be a drop in the US imprisonment rate. Tight budgets now have states rethinking the ‘lock ‘em up” policies and the costs that come with them”

According to Jeff Carlton of the Associated Press, the USA may soon see its prison population drop for the first time in almost four decades, a milestone in a nation that locks up more people than any other. About 739,000 prisoners were admitted to state and federal facilities last year, about 3,500 more than were released, according to new figures from the bureau. The 0.8 percent growth in the prison population is the smallest annual increase this decade and significant Since the 1990’s the average annual growth has been in the order of 6.5%.

• In Texas, parole rates were once among the lowest in the nation, with as few as 15 percent of inmates being granted release as recently as five years ago. Now, the parole rate is more than 30 percent after Texas began identifying low-risk candidates for parole.

• In Mississippi, a truth-in-sentencing law required drug offenders to serve 85 percent of their sentences. That's been reduced to less than 25 percent.

• California's budget problems are expected to result in the release of 37,000 inmates in the next two years. The state also is under a federal court order to shed 40,000 inmates because its prisons are so overcrowded that they are no longer constitutional.

States also are looking at ways to keep people from ever entering prison. A nationwide system of drug courts takes first-time felony offenders caught with less than a gram of illegal drugs and sets up a monitoring team to help with case management and therapy. Studies have touted significant savings with drug courts, saying they cost 10 percent to 30 percent less than it costs to send someone to prison.

“Approaches of this kind not only save money, but can be done without a threat to public safety, ” says Kim Workman. We need to take an urgent look at our penal policy, especially in regard to short term, non-violent offenders.”

Source: http://www.salon.com/news/2009/12/20/us_prison_population/print.html

ENDS

© Scoop Media