ALJAZEERA: Momentum for criminal justice reform in the United States continues to increase amid harsh sentencing laws that have led to a burgeoning prison population — resulting in the world’s largest reported incarcerated population and highest rate of imprisonment, according to a report by Human Rights Watch…
Between 1979 and 2009, according to the report, the number of prisoners in state and federal facilities increased almost 430 percent. And nearly three decades of harsh sentencing laws have left the U.S. with over 2.2 million men and women behind bars, most for nonviolent crimes. More than 53 percent of that population is serving time for nonviolent offenses, such as low-level drug dealing…
Trying youth as adults, the report adds, has also contributed to high incarceration rates. In 2011, more than 95,000 youth under 18 were in adult prisons and jails across the U.S., said the report, citing data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics… (more)
