REPORTS: INCARCERATION OPTIONS GROW

After three decades of "get tough" prison policies in the United States, a
growing number of states have adopted sentencing reforms as alternatives to
incarceration, according to two separate studies to be released today.

The reports by the Sentencing Project and the Justice Policy Institute ---
left-leaning research organizations based in Washington --- conclude that
the trend toward reforms has been driven by a drop in crime, fiscal
constraints and waning public support for imprisoning nonviolent felons.
"We are starting to see a reasonably substantial shift away from harsher
sentencing," said Marc Mauer, assistant director of the Sentencing Project.
"There is no question the trend is already in place. The only question is
how substantial it will become . . . across the country."

In its analysis of legislative proposals and fiscal actions around the
United States, the Sentencing Project found that in the last 18 months,
four states have scaled back mandatory sentencing laws, five states have
expanded the role of drug treatment as an alternative to prison and seven
states have passed other types of legislation to ease prison overcrowding.

Significantly, Mauer said, many of the states taking such initiatives ---
such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia --- previously
have been among the most conservative in their approach to public safety
and prison sentencing.

One example of changing attitudes, Mauer said, is the proliferation of drug
courts.

Just a decade ago, he said, the first drug courts began hearing cases in
the United States to emphasize treatment over imprisonment for nonviolent
drug offenders.

Today, according to Mauer, more than 400 drug courts are operating
throughout the country.