California because of prison

May 2024 › Forums › General discussion › Reforming the prison system › California because of prison

December 12, 2014 at 1:21 am #106864
alanjjohnstone
Keymaster

California because of prison overcrowding and the cost of incarceration passed Proposition 47, reclassifying a lot of felon charges into misdemeanour offences so releasing large numbers of prisoners. Other US states are set to follow. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/11/14/california-feloniestomisdemeanors.htmlI don't think it will be moral or educational arguments which will prevail but economic arguments and one thing that in the US in particular faces is the privatised prison industry who require lots of inmates and so support more strict sentencing of offenders and exert pressure against relaxation of various laws such as drugs.