Two Powerful Signals of a Major Shift on Crime

Two Powerful Signals of a Major Shift on Crime

Filed under: Crack Cocaine Statistics United States

A generation ago, amid a crack epidemic, state and federal lawmakers enacted a wave of tough-on-crime measures that resulted in an 800 percent increase in the number of prisoners in the United States, even as the population grew by only a third. The … Read more on New York Times

 

Sentencing, frisking reversals shake up nation's war on drugs

Filed under: Crack Cocaine Statistics United States

A generation ago, amid a crack cocaine epidemic, state and federal lawmakers enacted a wave of tough-on-crime measures that resulted in an 800 percent increase in the number of prisoners in the United States, even as the population grew by only a third … Read more on Minneapolis Star Tribune

 

The Changing War on Crime, in Three Graphs

Filed under: Crack Cocaine Statistics United States

Monday's two major shifts in how American criminal justice is meted out can be summarized in two charts. The first is from a study that shows how mandatory minimum sentences have resulted in much stricter penalties for people of color. The second shows … Read more on The Atlantic Wire