A powerful group of United States senators unveiled a bill last month designed to reform federal criminal sentencing laws. If passed, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 will begin to address some of the most troubling areas of federal criminal sentencing – the cause, many experts say, of exponential growth in the federal prison population. The bill would reduce mandatory life sentences without parole for some drug offenses, allow parole for people sentenced to life for crimes they committed when juveniles and expand the number of inmates over 60 years old who can seek compassionate release from prison. It provides judges with greater discretion at sentencing for some drug crimes and allows for retroactive application of the 2010 federal law that reduced the unfair disparity in sentence lengths between crack and powder cocaine.
The bill is particularly noteworthy for its bipartisan support, which includes Sen. Charles Grassley. The Judiciary Committee chairman has been a staunch supporter of harsh punishments, including mandatory minimum sentences, reflecting a hopeful trend that the uniquely American experience of mass incarceration is beginning to be recognized across the political spectrum. Both democratic and republican presidential candidates are calling for prison reform.
“Currently, one of every nine people in prison is serving a life sentence. Over half of current prisoners sentences of a year or longer are serving time for a non-violent offense. This is despite research that questions the deterrent effect of longer sentences.”
A new national group of law enforcement leaders came together a few weeks ago to announce a coalition to reduce crime and incarceration. Made up of 130 big city police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, and attorneys general from all 50 states, the group is uniquely positioned to meet its goal. Its members recognize that the nation’s laws over-criminalize and over-punish without making society safer. They are calling for increasing alternatives to arrest and prosecution; reducing unnecessary severity of criminal laws; reducing or eliminating mandatory minimum laws, and strengthening ties between law enforcement and communities.
Solving the crisis of mass incarceration will require all hands on deck. Beginning in the 1970s, public policy decisions dramatically increased the number of people locked up to the point where the U.S. has the largest number of incarcerated adults in the world – by far – at a cost to taxpayers of $80 billion a year. From 1973 to 2014, the prison population grew from about 200,000 to approximately 1.5 million. An estimated 6,899,000 people were under the supervision of adult correctional systems including probation and parole in 2013.
Longer sentencing has contributed to the prison population explosion. Since 1972, the median length of stay in prisons has doubled, from about 15 months to about 30 months. Currently, one of every nine people in prison is serving a life sentence. Over half of current prisoners sentences of a year or longer are serving time for a non-violent offense. This is despite research that questions the deterrent effect of longer sentences.
The impact of incarceration falls more heavily on minority and disadvantaged communities, with the growth of the prison population coming primarily from locking up young black men. The impoverished communities left behind are hit hard by the number of men and increasingly women who are gone at any given time. Families struggle without adults to care for children, earn a living and contribute financially. Once released from prison, people face tough odds finding jobs because they are often unskilled and because employers are unwilling to hire someone with a criminal record.
As others have written previously on this blog, public health leaders describe mass incarceration as an epidemic – like an infectious disease that has spread rapidly through the population, disproportionately affecting a large number of people and with an adverse impact that ripples outward. Americans have stood up to epidemics in the past, from smallpox in the 1600s to polio in the 1950s. We would do well to work across party lines to conquer the epidemic of mass incarceration.
This story originally appeared on Philly.com’s Public Health Blog.
