Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Criminal Law

: The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

RI: Decriminalizing less than an ounce of marijuana would save the state $12.7 million in criminal justice costs per year

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Providence, RI--According to the new report by OpenDoors, ?The Criminal Justice Costs of Marijuana Prohibition in Rhode Island,? marijuana prohibition has widespread and significant fiscal and human costs, results in unfair and racially disproportionate punishment, and has no demonstrated public safety benefits. There were 1,771 arrests for marijuana possession in 2009, and in 2008 there were 584 incidents of incarceration for marijuana possession. The report recommends decriminalization of possession of less than one ounce of marijuana and estimates that this would save $12.7 million in criminal justice costs per year. Additionally, the report concludes that there is no proof of any crime control benefits of these incarcerations, finding that, ?in the year after release from a prison sentence for marijuana, only 7% of individuals were reconvicted for a violent offense, only 2...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on April 05, 2010 (boomark / email).