Over the last few years, a number of articles and reports have been published documenting the rise in U.S. crime rates and advocating increased use of incarceration to reverse the trend. Supporters have concluded that incarceration, while costly, is less expensive than the crime it prevents, concluding that imprisonment was remarkably cost-effective because each year of prison time saved taxpayers $430,000 in criminal justice expenditures. Advocates of increased incarceration have, at best, presented an incomplete picture to the American public. The huge and expensive increase in the use of imprisonment over the last decade has not led to decreases in crime. It is time to abandon the "prisons pay" myth and move on to affordable intermediate sanctions that adequately protect the public while offering more hope for long-term reductions in crime. Complete listing and access info »

According to the National Council and Crime and Delinquency (NCCD), prison populations will increase by 35 percent over the next five years under the current criminal justice policies. This rate of growth is significantly lower than NCCD's 1989 estimates of a 60 percent increase over five years. The principal reason for the lower growth rate is a 20 percent reduction in drug arrests, which in turn is reducing projected jail and prison admissions. The declining number of drug arrests are related to the fiscal crisis of state and local governments, drug asset and seizure laws, and lower drug use. However, prison populations will continue to grow despite reductions in admissions due to the passage of mandatory minimum sentencing statutes and lengthier prison terms for certain crimes. Assuming that the 16 states researched are representative of trends that are on-going in other states and the Federal Prison System, the nation's prison population will reach 1 million inmates by 1994. Complete listing and access info »

A review of 13 major studies in the US and Canada on the accelerated release of prisoners and its impact on public safety. Complete listing and access info »

Over the past several decades, California has experimented with a variety of sentencing policies to reduce crime. Most of those reforms have emphasized punishment rather than rehabilitation. Survey data reported in this publication suggest that the state's public is looking for a reconsideration of these policies. Complete listing and access info »

In February, 2006, NCCD commissioned Zogby International to conduct a national public opinion poll about American attitudes toward rehabilitation and reentry of prisoners into their home communities. The results of the poll showed that striking majorities favor rehabilitation as a major goal of incarceration. Complete listing and access info »