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Blue Ribbon Time for Mass Incarceration

By Jonathan Simor

You know something is officially a major social problem when Congress creates a "blue ribbon" commission to study it. This week we can celebrate the official coming of age of mass incarceration as a social as the Senate Judiciary Committee, prodded by Jim Webb (D. Va.) voted to create a commission of experts to study why America has the world's highest incarceration rate and why so many non-violent crimes result in prison sentences (see the NYTimes editorial praising the vote).Don't break out the champagne just yet, becoming a major social problem does not mean the problem gets solved. The blue ribbon commission on mass incarceration just might join the long chain-gang of blue ribbon commissions on topics like the deficit and national educational decline...continue to full post

Full post as published by Governing Through Crime on February 13, 2010 (boomark / email).