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New Pew report indicates that state prison populations declined in 2009

By Douglas A. Berman

As detailed in this New York Times article and this piece from Stateline, a new report from the folks at Pew indicates that "state prison populations, which have grown for nearly four decades, have begun to dip ... largely because of recent efforts to keep parolees out of prison and reduce prison time for nonviolent offenders."  Here is more from the NYT piece: State prisons held 1,403,091 people as of Jan. 1, nearly 6 percent fewer than a year before, the report said. Prison populations have fallen in 27 states in that period, while they have risen in 23. ?It?s too early to tell whether this is a tap of the brakes or a shift into reverse,? said Adam Gelb, the director of the public safety performance project of the Pew Center on the States in Washington, which produced the report...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on March 17, 2010 (boomark / email).