End of Imprisonment Binge?
Why are conservatives jumping on the bandwagon and shifting from "tough on crime" to "smart on crime." Fiscal concerns are a motive, plus the failure of drug and criminal justice policies.
Struggling with chronic budget crises, lawmakers in more and more states are embracing sentencing and other reforms in a bid to hold down corrections costs. But while sentencing reform has long been the domain of “bleeding heart” liberals, now conservatives are driving those efforts in some states. It’s not just about dollars. Although fiscal concerns are a driving force among conservatives, there are also signs they are recognizing and confronting the failures of our drug and criminal justice policies.
