"State budget crises push sentencing reforms"

The title of this post is the headline of this lengthy new AP story that provides an effective overview of how, as a result of bills for mass incarceration coming due, sentencing reforms are part of many states' efforts to deal with budget issues.  Here are a few excerpts:

As costs to house state inmates have soared in recent years, many conservatives are reconsidering a tough-on-crime era that has led to stiffer sentences, overcrowded prisons and bloated corrections budgets.   Ongoing budget deficits and steep drops in tax revenue in most states are forcing the issue, with law-and-order Republican governors and state legislators beginning to overhaul years of policies that were designed to lock up more criminals and put them away for longer periods of time....

Republican governors and lawmakers pushed for many of the policies that put low-level drug offenders and nonviolent felons behind bars and extended sentences for many convicted criminals.  But with the GOP in control of more financially strapped state governments, a growing number of Republican elected officials favor a review of the sentencing laws that contributed to a fourfold increase in prison costs over two decades.

The total cost of incarcerating state inmates swelled from $12 billion in 1988 to more than $50 billion by 2008....  Fall election gains put Republicans in control of 25 state legislatures and 29 governor's offices, and many have pledged not to raise taxes even as they face budget shortfalls. Reforming laws to send fewer low-level offenders to state prison or reduce their sentences is a more politically palatable way to save money than cutting spending for schools or health care programs....

The proposals vary by state, but the hallmarks include ways to reduce sentences for lower-level offenders, direct some offenders to alternative sentencing programs, give judges more sentencing discretion and smooth the transition for released prisoners.  In many states, the Republican measures parallel Democratic efforts that stalled long ago. The push to reform sentencing laws has forged uneasy alliances between law-and-order politicians and activists who have long argued that many laws went too far....

Backers of the state measures almost always refer to Texas, which began implementing sentencing changes six years ago.  Faced with the prospect of housing 17,000 more inmates by 2012, the state poured money into drug treatment, while putting more drug abusers and petty thieves on probation. The overhaul slowed the growth of the state's incarceration rate and led to a 12.8 percent drop in the state's serious crime rate since 2003, according to a January 2010 state report. The state also saved more than $2 billion it would have spent on building new prisons to house the inmates, advocates say....

While most states are examining sentencing reforms that would target only future convicts, Oklahoma and Texas are examining changes that would release some inmates early to save money.  In Oklahoma, some offenders could be eligible for electronic-monitoring.  Texas, facing a $15 billion budget deficit, is considering whether to transition some elderly prisoners to nursing homes, house arrest or hospices.

Many prosecutors are skeptical of changes to criminal-sentencing guidelines, saying tough policies have led to reduced crime.  Jim Reams, a prosecutor in New Hampshire's Rockingham County, said an early release program in that state has been a disaster because probation and parole officers are overwhelmed by the number of newly released prisoners flooding the system.  "The budget crises are being converted into a public safety crisis," said Reams, who is president of the National District Attorneys Association.  He worries that releasing more prisoners might have negative consequences.

The AP also has this companion piece headlined "Sentencing changes in some states at a glance."

Regular readers likely know of these stories and others involving state-level reform effort, and should also recognize that these latest sentencing reform discussions are largely the culmination of political, economic and social forces that have been developing for years.  What makes all of this so fresh and interesting is the ways in which the political tides of 2010, with so many budget-oriented Republicans taking over state offices with budgets so tight, has sped up the processes of reform.

Some recent related posts with reports from a few states and the modern politics of reform:

• "Budget Crunch Forces A New Approach To Prisons"
• Prison practicalities in lean budget times
• Budget issues prompt big talk of big prisoner release in Alabama
• "Florida Senators Look to Texas for Prison System Cuts"
• "Gov. Beshear signs bill aimed at lowering Kentucky prison population"
• Incoming Ohio Governor Kasich having to face over-crowded prisons and tight budgets
• Pennsylvania auditor urging state sentencing reform to reduce prison costs
• "Conservatives latch onto prison reform"
• Newt Gingrich says "criminal justice system is broken, and conservatives must lead the way in fixing it"
• "Right on Crime: The Conservative Case for Reform" officially launches
• When and how will state GOP leaders start cutting expensive criminal justice programming?
• Examining the politics of crime and punishment in modern gubernatorial settings
• What does the tea party movement have to say about taxing and spending on the death penalty, the drug war and mass incarceration?
• Will we invest in classrooms or cells in these tough times?