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A government waste attack on over-incarceration

By Douglas A. Berman

I am pleased to see this local editorial emphasizing government waste when assailing excessive incarceration of non-violent drug offenders.  Here are excerpts from the editorial:Stop government waste. That's what state taxpayers are clamoring for, right? Cut out the padded pensions, lavish trips, no-show jobs.  But all the money spent in those time-worn examples of "waste" pales in comparison to the millions and millions of dollars state taxpayers are spending to lock up nonviolent drug offenders who unwittingly found themselves within 1,000 feet of a school, or who are first-time offenders better served by drug treatment or other alternatives to jail. The Drug Policy Alliance released a study last week finding the state spends $331 million per year jailing nonviolent drug offenders, or more than the entire corrections budgets for 16 states...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on June 01, 2008 (boomark / email).