cannabisnews.com: Incarceration Policies Eased, 2 Reports Say Incarceration Policies Eased, 2 Reports Say Posted by FoM on February 07, 2002 at 21:23:24 PT Cheryl W. Thompson, Washington Post Staff Writer Source: Washington Post More than a dozen states have passed sentencing and corrections reforms that are beginning to reverse three decades of "get tough" incarceration policies, according to two reports scheduled for release by advocacy groups today.One study by the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based organization that promotes alternatives to imprisonment, found that lawmakers in four states either scaled back or reversed sentencing policies. It also found that five states expanded drug treatment as a sentencing option and seven states passed legislation to ease prison crowding. A similar review by the Justice Policy Institute, which also opposes strict incarceration policies, found that tight budgets have impelled governors in Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Florida to close prisons and prompted four other states to reduce prison populations. The report contends public support is shifting away from imprisonment of nonviolent offenders and toward prevention, rehabilitation and alternative sentencing.The 1990s saw a huge increase in prison populations after the enactment of tough sentencing laws across the United States. More than 1.9 million people were in jails and prisons in 2000, according to a government report released in August 2001. States spent $38 billion on corrections in the last fiscal year, a 5.2 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Sentencing Project's report."The punishment-oriented war on drugs has contributed to a record prison population that still leaves many citizens dissatisfied with the level of crime and drug abuse," the report said.In California, voters overwhelmingly approved a measure last year that would send anyone convicted of drug possession for the first or second time to court-ordered treatment. Proposition 36 also would allow a parolee who fails a drug test to be placed on probation and enrolled in a treatment program.The measure may result in 24,000 people getting treatment instead of prison time and is expected to save the state $200 million a year, the report said.Louisiana lawmakers passed a bill last year reducing sentences for certain drug and nonviolent crimes and eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent crimes. The legislation also repeals a law that prohibits the consideration of parole for many "low-level nonviolent offenders" and softens the state's "three strikes" law.Officials also have examined ways to cut prison costs while reducing crime, the report found. Mississippi law now allows inmates to earn time toward early release; Montana lawmakers passed a bill that diverts anyone convicted of four or more drunk-driving offenses to residential treatment programs; and Virginia provides early release to elderly inmates.Note: Some States Closing Prisons, Expanding Drug Treatment.Source: Washington Post (DC)Author: Cheryl W. Thompson, Washington Post Staff WriterPublished: Thursday, February 7, 2002; Page A02 Copyright: 2002 The Washington Post Company Contact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.com Related Articles & Web Sites:Justice Policy Institutehttp://www.cjcj.org/Sentencing Projecthttp://www.sentencingproject.org/Campaign for New Drug Policieshttp://www.drugreform.org/State Prison Population Dropshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10599.shtmlNew Civil Rights Movement: End The Drug Warhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10466.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by SoberStoner on February 08, 2002 at 07:28:54 PT: FoM Check this out. Saw this on yahoo this morning. Not sure if you want to post it or not, but i figured some people here might be interested in it.http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020208/us/three_strikes.htmlSS [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by p4me on February 07, 2002 at 23:11:26 PT Turmel in Canada http://www.medpot.net has been on this site many times and many people would be familiar with the name Turmel. He is not a lawyer in Canada but it would be hard to name someone that has carried the idea of MMJ to the courts of Canada more often. Tuesday there was to be a trial of 7 defendants that could break the prohibition of MJ in Canada.Reading from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/medpot/messages , I was on message 248 when I read the argument calling for the abolition of prohibition in the section titled Arguments. One thing about Turmel, he lets the world know where he stands. Most all of the postings at the above link are by Turmel himself.In the following paragraph he is talking about the order telling the Canadain government it had one year (that year ended 7-31-01)to establish a process that would let Canada deliver MMJ to patients. Here he is saying the year is up and further in message 248 he goes into the argument that Canada failed to do that and now there are no laws to govern MJ because people are suffering and dying because of the countries pitiful attempt to bring MMJ to the people. C) The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that marijuana prohibition is unconstitutional because it violates the right to life. Prohibition kills. They gave Parliament one year to find a way to stop killing the sick guys who need it or prohibition would not be allowed to kill them any more. They ruled prohibition could violate people's section 7 right to life for only up to one more year. And now it's been 15 months.Anyone who has read the crap about there being no scientific evidence of the medical use of MJ should read these words also from message 248.SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE: 11. Crown says the witnesses provided what scientists refer to as anecdotal evidence and argues there is no solid scientific evidence to show that marijuana has in all cases extraordinary value reported by the patients. This constant repetition that anecdotal evidence is not scientific evidence exhibits a complete misunderstanding of the scientific method. Anyone saying this has not successfully studied science or applied science, engineering. 12. An anecdote is an honest datum. Several anecdotes are honest data to which statistical analysis techniques may be applied. Non-scientists confuse scientific evidence with scientific analysis. When the Crown says there is no scientific evidence of cannabis' healing properties, he really means there is no statistical evidence. There are thousands upon of thousands of scientific datums contained in those thousand upon thousands of anecdotes. 13. All anecdotes are scientifically valid. The only reason the Crown would repeat such an obviously erroneous engineering statement is due to the fact that all the anecdotal evidence does support the medicinal properties of cannabis and none of the anecdotal evidence supports the notion that there any dangerous properties. VAAI [ Post Comment ] Post Comment