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New (award-winnning) ABA Journal essay on the problems of mass incarceration

By Douglas A. Berman

I am pleased to learn and to report that this new essay about the problems of mass incarceration appears in the February 2009 ABA Journal after having been "selected by the ABA JournalBoard of Editors as the winner of the 2009 Ross Essay Contest."  The essay is by Ben Trachtenberg, and it titled "Incarceration Policy Strikes Out: Exploding prison population compromises the U.S. justice system." Here are a few excerpts: At midyear 2007, U.S. prisons and jails held 2,299,116 inmates, meaning more than 1 percent of American adults were incarcerated. We top the world in per capita imprisonment, increasing our lead every year.  Since 2000, while the total U.S. population increased by 7 percent, our prison population has grown by 19 percent.  Our massive imprisonment costs needless billions and, perversely, hinders effective crime control...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on January 27, 2009 (boomark / email).