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"As Budget Cuts Free Prisoners, States Face a Backlash"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the headline of this new piece from the New York Times.  Here is how it gets started: In the rush to save money in grim budgetary times, states nationwide have trimmed their prison populations by expanding parole programs and early releases. But the result ? more convicted felons on the streets, not behind bars ? has unleashed a backlash, and state officials now find themselves trying to maneuver between saving money and maintaining the public?s sense of safety. In February, lawmakers in Oregon temporarily suspended a program they had expanded last year to let prisoners shorten their sentences for good behavior (and to save $6 million) after an anticrime group aired radio advertisements portraying the outcomes in alarming tones...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on March 04, 2010 (boomark / email).