President to Release Non-Violent Drug Offenders

US President Barack Obama recently commuted the prison sentences of 42 inmates as part of his push for criminal justice reform.

Most of the offenders are small-time drug dealers who have already spent many years in prison – some were sentenced to life-imprisonment under “three strikes and you’re out” legislation.

Obama has now commuted the sentences of 348 inmates – more than the previous seven US presidents combined.

US Prison Population

An estimated 2.2 million people are behind bars in the United States. This represents a quarter of the global prison population in a country with only 5 per cent of the world’s population.

A whopping one in 100 US adults are incarcerated, and two-thirds of released inmates return to prison within 2 years.

The direct cost to the US economy is enormous – US $60 billion per year, an increase of more than 300% over the past 20 years. The indirect costs are believed to be far higher than this.

Law Reform

The White House has released a statement saying the commuted sentences related to inmates affected by “outdated and unduly harsh sentencing laws,” including mandatory life sentences for non-violent drug offences.

“The individuals receiving a presidential commutation today have more than repaid their debt to society and earned this second chance,” the statement said.

The President is expected to commute more sentences before he leaves office in January 2017. He has also proposed legislation which would reduce sentence lengths for small time offenders, and focus on alternatives to imprisonment and rehabilitation.

The President said of the current system:

“It’s not keeping us as safe as it should be. It is not as fair as it should be. Mass incarceration makes our country worse off, and we need to do something about it.”

Justice Reinvestment

Some US states have already seen the benefits of ‘Justice Reinvestment’, an initiative proposed by the US Open Society Institute in 2003.

Justice reinvestment recognises that a disproportionately high concentration of offending comes from a small number of communities, which are normally categorised by:

• High rates of poverty, child abuse or neglect, alcohol and drug use, and mental health problems,
• Insufficient social services such as housing and employment support, and
• low education levels.

By channeling funds into programs which address these problems, justice reinvestment has been remarkably successful in lowering offending rates and overall law enforcement costs in a number of US communities.

A 2014 report by the Urban Institute found that 17 states are projected to save as much as $4.6 billion through policies designed to channel spending into community projects and otherwise control corrections spending.

Seeing these benefits, a total of 21 US states have now signed up with the Council of State Governments Justice Centre and other non-profit organisations to investigate or apply justice reinvestment in their jurisdiction.

Closer to Home

Australia certainly has its own problems – with a sharply rising prison population caused by tougher bail laws and harsh sentencing regimes, despite falling overall crime rates.

Our Indigenous communities suffer from hugely disproportionate incarceration rates, while our politicians seem intent on spending more and more on enforcement and imprisonment, while losing focus on programs which address the underlying causes of offending.

It is hoped government will start to recognise the real, long-term economic and social benefits of preventative and diversionary programs, and shift expenditure towards initiatives that deal with the problem at its source.