Introduction
Overcrowded Chino State Prison in California uses a gymnasium as a dormitory. Last year federal judges ordered the state to reduce its prison population. Now the U.S. Supreme Court is deciding whether judges can order inmates released from prisons where crowding endangers prisoners and staff. (Getty Images/Kevork Djansezian)
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Budget crises are forcing states to re-examine the cost of maintaining their prison and jail systems, which incarcerate more than 2 million people, the biggest national prison population in the world. Politicians are divided on whether states should downsize their prison populations by changing parole policies and liberalizing some criminal laws, such as those governing drug offenses. Proponents of downsizing, including conservative Republicans such as potential GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, argue that states have been putting too many low-risk offenders in prison. They contend that expanding alternatives to incarceration would reduce prison costs and lower crime rates. But many prosecutors point to a sharp drop in crime in recent years as evidence that prison works. Lowering incarceration rates, they contend, would put society at greater risk of rising criminal activity — and eventually, rising costs to imprison a new wave of offenders.
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Apr. 12, 2019 |
Bail Reform |
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Oct. 19, 2018 |
For-Profit Prisons |
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Mar. 03, 2017 |
Women in Prison |
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Jan. 10, 2014 |
Sentencing Reform |
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Sep. 14, 2012 |
Solitary Confinement |
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Mar. 11, 2011 |
Downsizing Prisons |
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Dec. 04, 2009 |
Prisoner Reentry |
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Apr. 06, 2007 |
Prison Reform |
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Jan. 05, 2007 |
Prison Health Care |
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Sep. 17, 1999 |
Prison-Building Boom |
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Feb. 04, 1994 |
Prison Overcrowding |
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Oct. 20, 1989 |
Crime and Punishment: a Tenuous Link |
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Aug. 04, 1989 |
Can Prisons Rehabilitate Criminals? |
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Aug. 07, 1987 |
Prison Crowding |
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Nov. 25, 1983 |
Prison Overcrowding |
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Feb. 26, 1982 |
Religious Groups and Prison Reform |
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Jun. 18, 1976 |
Criminal Release System |
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Mar. 12, 1976 |
Reappraisal of Prison Policy |
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Oct. 20, 1971 |
Racial Tensions in Prisons |
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Oct. 13, 1965 |
Rehabilitation of Prisoners |
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Oct. 09, 1957 |
Prisons and Parole |
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May 02, 1952 |
Penal Reform |
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Jan. 30, 1937 |
The Future of Prison Industry |
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May 08, 1930 |
Prison Conditions and Penal Reform |
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