老澳门开奖结果

Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. With over 2.3 million men and women living behind bars, our imprisonment rate is the highest it鈥檚 ever been in U.S. history. And yet, our criminal justice system has failed on every count: public safety, fairness and cost-effectiveness. Across the country, the criminal justice reform conversation is heating up. Each week, we feature our some of the most exciting and relevant news in overincarceration discourse that we鈥檝e spotted from the previous week. Check back weekly for our top picks.

老澳门开奖结果, Religious Organizations Call for Governors to Say No to CCA Proposal
Two weeks ago, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest private prison company in the country, to 48 state governors in which it offered to buy state-run prisons on the condition that the facilities remain open and 90 percent full for 20 years. CCA鈥檚 letter has drawn strong objection from private prison opponents, for whom the letter underscores the misplaced motivations of private prison companies. This week, several organizations sent letters to the governors urging them to decline CCA鈥檚 offer: one from the 老澳门开奖结果 and 26 other organization, another from a coalition of religious organizations, and a third from the Presbyterian Church.

A recent investigation by an Atlanta local news station found that almost everybody arrested in Atlanta for marijuana possession is African-American. Because we know that black people actually use marijuana at lower rates that white people (see this , for example), this stark statistic tells the story of police and prosecutors who investigate and charge the African-American community more aggressively than others. The problem is larger than Atlanta. A found that black and Hispanic motorists are pulled over at higher rates than white motorists. 87 percent of in Brooklyn, New York, are people of color. It鈥檚 no secret that America鈥檚 criminal justice system has a racial bias, and that problem starts with police behavior.

Earlier this year, Maryland鈥檚 Supreme Court ruled that defendants must be appointed counsel at bail hearings. In reaction, Maryland lawmakers are considering a bill that will send fewer misdemeanants to jail. The Washington Post reports that under legislation scheduled for votes this week, people would be less likely to be hauled directly to jail for smoking marijuana, shoplifting, destroying property or committing one of a series of other misdemeanors.

New Jersey lawmakers in both chambers have introduced bills that would make drug abuse treatment mandatory if a qualifying offender is determined to have a problem with substance abuse. The bills have the support of Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who also supports yearlong drug treatment for 1,000 to 1,500 low-level offenders now in prison. Christie framed the issue as a moral one: "Budgets come and go. Taxes go up and down. But saving lives . . . that lasts forever."

A new study written by Robert Parker, director of the Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies at UC Riverside, concludes that California's controversial and costly three-strikes law should be repealed. Parker found that the law has caused the state鈥檚 prison population to balloon but hasn鈥檛 made a dent in the crime rate. Said Parker, 鈥淚f this very expensive policy isn鈥檛 really impacting crime, what are we doing?鈥�

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