What You Need to Know About Sentencing Reform

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Many Americans think of the United States as the “land of the free.” A cursory look at the country’s prison population, however, tells a different story. The United States has more people in prison than are imprisoned in any other country in the world. With more than 2.2 million imprisoned adults, the United States has more prisoners than countries such as China, which has a prison population of about 1.65 million.

Why does the United States have so many people behind bars? Several factors contribute to the problem, but most analysts agree that mandatory sentencing laws have had the greatest effect. Lawmakers passed mandatory sentencing laws in the early 1980s to deter people from committing crimes. At the time, many lawmakers hoped that harsh penalties would force citizens to think carefully before committing nonviolent crimes, such as drug possession. The laws did not have the desired effect.

You can witness the effects of mandatory sentencing laws by considering how the prison population has grown since 1980. In 1980, federal prisons held about 24,630 inmates. Five years after passing the first mandatory sentencing laws, the federal prison population had swelled to more than 40,000 people. By 2000, the country’s prisons held more than 145,000 inmates. By 2010, more than 210,000 were in federal penitentiaries.

The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 might soon lead to a smaller prison population. In fact, the number of people in federal penitentiaries fell to 196,134 in 2016. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 still forced judges to follow mandatory sentencing guidelines, but the prison terms were shorter than those of previous decades and years. Before the passage of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, possessing 5 grams of crack cocaine would result in five years in prison, the same amount of time as someone possessing 500 grams of powder cocaine. This sentencing disparity existed even though the drugs are pharmacologically the same.

These new guidelines offer a different outlook on drug possession and use. This outlook is especially important because many legal specialists believe that the higher sentences for crack cocaine disproportionately affected the country’s African American citizens.

In 2015, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bipartisan Sentencing Reform Act to offer a more balanced approach to sentencing. The Sentencing Reform Act of 2015 does more than help convicted offenders avoid lengthy prison sentences. The act also aims to use taxpayer funds more efficiently. Instead of focusing on long sentences for nonviolent offenders, the act’s provisions give law enforcement officials more opportunities to pursue serious criminal activity.

Study the following infographic, provided by the Portland State University Online Bachelor’s Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice program, to help you learn more about sentencing reform. When you do, you’ll discover more details about how mandatory sentences have negatively affected law enforcement efforts, courts, and citizens. The infographic also explains how longer prison sentences increase the likelihood that offenders will commit crimes after their release. With knowledge on your side, thanks to this infographic, you can form evidence-based opinions on matters of criminal justice in the United States.

An infographic about federal sentencing reform from Portland State University online.

About Post Author

Abigail Clark

Abigail Clark is an upcoming freelance writer. She graduated from The University of South Florida with a bachelors in marketing, minoring in journalism. When she isn’t up to her neck in coupons she is enjoying the outdoors fishing. She loves doing reviews for technology, home products and beauty products. If you would like her to do a review for you look her up on twitter @downtownabby17.
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Marsha Woerner
7 years ago

Good article and graphics!

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