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NJ sepnds $331 million a year incarcerating people with non-violent drug offenses

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Study: NJ loses money through nonviolent drug sentences By TOM HESTER Jr. Associated Press Writer May 28, 2008 TRENTON, N.J. New Jersey could save millions by reforming sentencing laws for nonviolent drug offenses, a new study finds. The Drug Policy Alliance study determined alternatives to jail for nonviolent drug offenders would let more money be invested in the state's poorest families and communities. It found the state spends $331 million per year jailing nonviolent drug offenders, or more than the entire corrections budgets for 16 states. It also found the state is also losing out on taxable income by sending nonviolent drug offenders to jail and limiting their future employment. "We are creating an entire cast of people who will forever be economic and labor force outsiders," said Roseanne Scotti, the alliance's director...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on June 02, 2008 (boomark / email).