UNFREE IN AMERICA

IT IS EASY to see why the United States has the highest incarceration rate
in the world when a convicted felon in California gets 50 years to life for
shoplifting $153.54 in children's videotapes from Kmart. But a new report
by the Justice Department on incarceration rates shows just how
counterproductive get-tough state and federal sentencing laws have become.
Reform is needed to prevent future generations from being rounded up and
sent off to prison for nonviolent crimes that would be better addressed
with restitution and other sanctions short of jail time. The first-ever
report on incarceration rates by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, released
earlier this month, found that 5.6 million people, or 1 in 37 adults, were
in prison or had once served time as of Dec. 31, 2001. That startling fact
has vaulted the United States past Russia as the world's leading
incarcerator. If the rate continues, 6.6 percent of US residents born in
2001 will go to prison at some point during their lives.

Black males will have a 1 in 3 chance, Hispanic males 1 in 6, and white
males a 1 in 17 chance of going to prison.

Those numbers can't be explained entirely by the growth in the US
population or increased life expectancy any more than the recent drop in
crime can be attributed to the fact that 16.6 percent of adult black males
were in prison or had been there in 2001.

Last week the Justice Department released a separate study that showed
violent crime and property crime falling in 2002 to their lowest levels in
years. The report was fuel for those who argue that a high incarceration
rate is the price society must pay for a lower crime rate. But only a
handful of offenders are responsible for most violent crime.

Mandatory sentencing laws, three-strikes-and-you're-out policies, and the
war on drugs have turned many prisons into repositories for small-time drug
dealers and thieves. This has forced overcrowded conditions that have led
some states to grant early release to truly violent offenders.

Attorney General John Ashcroft's policies would only make the problem
worse. Last month he directed all US attorneys to notify him whenever a
federal judge imposes a criminal sentence for less time than recommended
under federal guidelines, a move that would chill judicial discretion. That
directive has been opposed by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, a
Reagan appointee known for his tough anticrime stance.

Sanctions for lawbreakers should vary according to the crime.

A one-size-fits-all approach to fighting crime is no deterrent and is
costly for society, as lawmakers in Washington and in state capitals should
recognize.

And locking up a greater percentage of citizens than any other nation is
not a milestone of American pride.

Sanctions for lawbreakers should vary according to the crime.

A one-size-fits-all approach to fighting crime is no deterrent and is
costly for society, as lawmakers in Washington and in state capitals should
recognize. And locking up a greater percentage of citizens than any other
nation is not a milestone of American pride.

Sanctions for lawbreakers should vary according to the crime.

A one-size-fits-all approach to fighting crime is no deterrent and is
costly for society, as lawmakers in Washington and in state capitals should
recognize.

And locking up a greater percentage of citizens than any other nation is
not a milestone of American pride.