The state has cut its prison population by 26 percent since 2000 by easing sentencing, opening drug courts and re-entry programs and investing in mental health services. But the nation, with 5 percent of the world’s population, still has 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. Republicans and Democrats agree that mass incarceration costs billions, destroys communities and doesn’t reduce crime. A new report from the Brennan Center for Justice suggests a remedy. Co-author, Senior Counsel Lauren-Brooke Eisen, spoke about what New Jersey has done to decrease its prison population.
Eisen: New Jersey has dramatically reduced its prison population. In the last three years New Jersey has reduced its prison population by almost 10 percent. That’s significant because over the last three years New Jersey has reduced its prison population second most in the entire country, and at the same time crime continues to fall to the tune of 20 percent. So New Jersey has done this thoughtfully. This wasn’t by accident. New Jersey has made, what we call, front end and back end reforms. And what this means is that on the front end, so before someone enters the criminal justice system, New Jersey has specifically given judges more discretion to sentence people beneath the mandatory minimum levels. Additionally, New Jersey has comprehensively and thoughtfully worked to reduce the number of people who are sent back to prison on what’s called a parole revocation. In most of the cases it’s for a technical reason, such as failing a drug test.
Williams: How does New Jersey stack up against the rest of the states?
Eisen: New Jersey has created some comprehensive criminal justice reforms. In terms of its reduction in incarceration its certainly far ahead of most of the other states.
Williams: How did we get to a point where we had so many prisoners?
Eisen: We have, as you indicated, more people in prison in this country than any developed nation in the world; in fact of any other country in the world. We have gotten here through public policy decisions.
Williams: There was a law in 1994 that really incentivized states to throw people in jail.
Eisen: I think you’re referring to the 1994 crime bill. The 1994 crime bill is one of many pieces of federal legislation that incentivized states to arrest more people, incarcerate more people. In fact, the crime bill is so significant because it authorized billions of dollars to the state to increase their capacity in terms of prison beds and create and build more prisons. The states were actually given that money if they created what is called truth and sentencing laws that actually lengthen people’s sentences.
Williams: Why?
Eisen: This is in the early 1990s and 1991 was the peak of crime in this country. However, in 1994 even though crime has started to slowly reduce, we didn’t know then in 1994 that crime was going to significantly become reduced. Today we have reduced crime to half the levels that they were in the early 1990s, but in that time they were scared and there was a big crack cocaine epidemic and there was a lot more crime.
Williams: You’re suggesting a bill that would reverse that.
Eisen: The Brennen Center for Justice issued a report called the Reverse Mass Incarceration Act. We’re also calling it the Reverse Crime Bill Act. The idea here is why not pay states to reduce incarceration? We’ve incentivized and paid states to increase incarceration. Now that we know that you can reduce crime and incarceration at the same time, that you don’t need incarceration to have a public safety value, this is the time that we should start thinking about how we can incentivize states to significantly reduce the number of people they send to prison.
Williams: Is this the political moment for comprehensive criminal justice reform?
Eisen: Absolutely. We’re in a very unique bipartisan moment right now. Republicans, Democrats all across the aisle, are talking about criminal justice reform and it’s evident with bills that are finally moving through Congress. In fact there’s a Senate bill right now that’s one of the most significant bills in recent history that would deal with criminal justice reform. We really are at an unique moment today.