The Biggest Overlooked Trend of 2013

And this is a real positive trend, for a change --

"After three decades of steep increases in total incarceration and incarceration rates, the last three years have seen the total incarcerated population in the United States decrease, as well as the incarceration rate. At the same time, some disparities between blacks and whites in the criminal justice system have also been reduced. The politics of crime, which used to know only one register—“tough on crime”—and used to be dominated by mandatory minimums, three-strikes laws and elimination of parole, has changed. In recent years, half of all U.S. states have enacted legislation designed to reduce reliance on incarceration, shorten sentences, reintroduce parole and generally shrink the size of our incarcerated population. We still lead the world in incarceration rates, but these trends are encouraging. Moreover, none of these changes has led to any significant increase in crime. We can, it turns out, be smart on crime." - David Cole, Professor, Georgetown University Law School 

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/12/overlooked-trends-of-2013-101491.html#ixzz2pwfiqjhW

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