Sentencing A Criminal Justice Issue Area Primer for the National Foundation for Women Legislators

Table of Contents What is Sentencing? – Slide #3 Evidence About Sentencing – Slide #5 Public Opinions – Slide #6 What are States Doing? – Slide #7 Model Policies and Practices – Slide #8 *Note: hyperlinks to reports and data can be opened by right clicking and selecting "open hyperlink"*

What is sentencing? Sentencing refers specifically to the punishment handed down by a court or jurisdiction. Once a person has been found guilty of a crime, felony or misdemeanor, they are sentenced. In cases of lower-level offenses judges or jurisdictions routinely require some form of community service, fines, and/or probation. In the case of more serious offenses, the sentences are likewise much more serious.

What is sentencing? However, since the 1980’s, states have often required more and more punitive sentencing standards, such as 3 strikes laws, truth-in-sentencing laws, and mandatory minimums. There is very little evidence these laws have led to decreased crime rates, and meanwhile prison populations have skyrocketed, consuming larger and larger percentages of state budgets.

Evidence About Sentencing According to one of the most comprehensive reports on prison growth ever published, mandatory minimum sentencing and longer prison sentences for the same offenses have been a key driver of prison growth, and did not occur because of an increase in crime over the same period. Rather, they resulted because of changes in sentencing policy and cultural attitudes about crime and incarceration Source: The Crime Report

Public Opinions A recent poll showed unprecedented support for the elimination of mandatory minimums An overwhelming majority of Americans believe some of the money states spend incarcerating low-level and non-violent offenders could be better invested elsewhere Publicly leaders from Eric Holder to Ted Cruz have expressed support for more evidence-driven sentencing standards Source: The Crime Report

What are states doing? Over 30 states have participated in the Justice Reinvestment framework, and many of those subsequently reduced penalties for non violent crimes and created more alternatives to incarceration As you can see in this Vera Institute report, dozens of states have expanded access to diversion or reduced sentences in 2014-15 alone

Model Policies and Practices Sentencing standards should be based on the best available evidence for what reduces crime and the likelihood of a re-offense States should give discretion back to judges and eliminate or reduce mandatory minimums, especially for drug offenses Wherever possible, evidence-based alternatives to incarceration should be considered for low-level and non-violent offenders