Blog

America’s penal incarceration statistics are shocking to say the least.

• The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that there were 2.2 million people in the nation’s jails and prisons at the end of 2014.
• BJS figures showed that another 4.8 million were under some form of supervision of the adult correctional system.
• BJS figures also showed that 17 percent of the inmates in state prisons were convicted of non-violent offenses while 50 percent were convicted of violent offenses.
• According to the Sentencing Project, there are 160,000 inmates serving life sentences in the nation’s prison system—3300 of whom committed non-violent offenses (and two-thirds of whom are black), according to the ACLU.
• According to the International Centre for Prison Studies, American prisons and jails house 22 percent of the world’s prison population while the United States represents 4.4 percent of the world’s population.

Bipartisan Calls for Criminal Justice Reforms

The budgetary, social, and political cost of mass incarceration in this country has fueled a rare bipartisan demand for criminal justice reform, especially in the area of criminal sentencing.

Evidence of this was seen last November when the House Judiciary Committee approved bipartisan legislation to reform federal sentencing laws. The legislation, known as the Sentencing Reform Act of 2015, would reduce certain mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, such as decreasing the three-strike mandatory life sentence to 25 years and the second-strike mandatory minimum from 20 to 15 years.

While the legislation would provide federal judges with more discretion in fashioning an appropriate sentence in a drug case and allow for non-violent drug offenders to be sentenced below the mandatory minimum, the bill has significant limitations like the provisions require “serious violent criminals” serve their full sentence and strict sentencing enhancements for Fentanyl trafficking.

Reducing Prison Population

As The New York Times reported recently, these limitations reflect that the political bipartisan effort is not without some controversy.

For example, the Times pointed out that while the American Civil Liberties Union is calling for “a swift 50 percent reduction” in the nation’s prison population, the conservative prison reform organization Right on Crime (and other similar groups) favor a prison population reduction that would “prioritize the release of nonviolent offenders.”

The cries for sentencing reform are well put. This past April, a federal judge sentenced former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, whom the judge called a “serial child molester,” to 15 months in prison while there is a long list of people serving life sentences for marijuana-related offenses.

Aggressive Enforcement of Pointless Law

Last July, Jesse Wegman, writing in Times, made this poignant observation to open his piece:

“America’s four-decade war on drugs is responsible for many casualties, but the criminalization of marijuana has been perhaps the most destructive part of that war. The toll can be measured in dollars – billions of which are thrown away each year in the aggressive enforcement of pointless laws. It can be measured in years – whether wasted behind bars or stolen from a child who grows up fatherless. And it can be measured in lives – those damaged if not destroyed by the shockingly harsh consequences that can follow even the most minor offenses.”

Arrests for Simple Possession of Marijuana Leads Arrest Stats

The Huffington Post reported in 2013 that there were more arrests in this country for the simple possession of marijuana than “for all violent crimes combined.”

Worst yet, the Corporate Crime Reporter has reported that corporate crime, whose results can produce more harm than violent street crime, inflicts more damage on society than all street crime combined.

As an example, there are approximately 15,000 people murdered in this country each year while 56,000 die on the job or from occupational disease such as black lung or asbestosis – not to mention the millions who fall victim to the silent violence of pollution, contaminated food, medical malpractice, or defective products, all of which are part of acceptable corporate crime.

The reality is this: the federal and state prosecution of crime in this country, and the sentences imposed following the convictions obtained from those prosecutions, reflect the longstanding racism embedded in our criminal justice system. Many people refuse to accept this reality, preferring to find a legion of excuses for the prosecution and sentencing disparities.

We do not know what the final picture of the Sentencing Reform Act of 2015 will be. We can only hope as it meanders through the maze of politics, social divisions, and the perils of extremism that there will some “reform” (racial equality and fairness) left in the final product.

America’s penal incarceration statistics are shocking to say the least.

• The S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that there were 2.2 million people in the nation’s jails and prisons at the end of 2014.
• BJS figures showed that another 4.8 million were under some form of supervision of the adult correctional system.
• BJS figures also showed that 17 percent of the inmates in state prisons were convicted of non-violent offenses while 50 percent were convicted of violent offenses.
• According to the Sentencing Project, there are 160,000 inmates serving life sentences in the nation’s prison system—3300 of whom committed non-violent offenses (and two-thirds of whom are black), according to the ACLU.
• According to the International Centre for Prison Studies, American prisons and jails house 22 percent of the world’s prison population while the United States represents 4.4 percent of the world’s population.

Bipartisan Calls for Criminal Justice Reforms

The budgetary, social, and political cost of mass incarceration in this country has fueled a rare bipartisan demand for criminal justice reform, especially in the area of criminal sentencing.

Evidence of this was seen last November when the House Judiciary Committee approved bipartisan legislation to reform federal sentencing laws. The legislation, known as the Sentencing Reform Act of 2015, would reduce certain mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, such as decreasing the three-strike mandatory life sentence to 25 years and the second-strike mandatory minimum from 20 to 15 years.

While the legislation would provide federal judges with more discretion in fashioning an appropriate sentence in a drug case and allow for non-violent drug offenders to be sentenced below the mandatory minimum, the bill has significant limitations like the provisions require “serious violent criminals” serve their full sentence and strict sentencing enhancements for Fentanyl trafficking.

Disagreements About Path to Reform

As The New York Times reported recently, these limitations reflect that the political bipartisan effort is not without some controversy.

For example, the Times pointed out that while the American Civil Liberties Union is calling for “a swift 50 percent reduction” in the nation’s prison population, the conservative prison reform organization Right on Crime (and other similar groups) favor a prison population reduction that would “prioritize the release of nonviolent offenders.”

The cries for sentencing reform are well put. This past April, a federal judge sentenced former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, whom the judge called a “serial child molester,” to 15 months in prison while there is a long list of people serving life sentences for marijuana-related offenses.

Aggressive Enforcement of Pointless Law

Last July, Jesse Wegman, writing in Times, made this poignant observation to open his piece:

“America’s four-decade war on drugs is responsible for many casualties, but the criminalization of marijuana has been perhaps the most destructive part of that war. The toll can be measured in dollars – billions of which are thrown away each year in the aggressive enforcement of pointless laws. It can be measured in years – whether wasted behind bars or stolen from a child who grows up fatherless. And it can be measured in lives – those damaged if not destroyed by the shockingly harsh consequences that can follow even the most minor offenses.”

Arrests for Simple Possession of Marijuana Leads Arrest for All Violent Crimes Combined

The Huffington Post reported in 2013 that there were more arrests in this country for the simple possession of marijuana than “for all violent crimes combined.”

Worst yet, the Corporate Crime Reporter has reported that corporate crime, whose results can produce more harm than violent street crime, inflicts more damage on society than all street crime combined.

As an example, there are approximately 15,000 people murdered in this country each year while 56,000 die on the job or from occupational disease such as black lung or asbestosis – not to mention the millions who fall victim to the silent violence of pollution, contaminated food, medical malpractice, or defective products, all of which are part of acceptable corporate crime.

The reality is this: the federal and state prosecution of crime in this country, and the sentences imposed following the convictions obtained from those prosecutions, reflect the longstanding racism embedded in our criminal justice system. Many people refuse to accept this reality, preferring to find a legion of excuses for the prosecution and sentencing disparities.

We do not know what the final picture of the Sentencing Reform Act of 2015 will be. We can only hope as it meanders through the maze of politics, social divisions, and the perils of extremism that there will some “reform” (racial equality and fairness) left in the final product.