The Economist: In an Odd Political Coincidence, the Federal Government and Texas Are Adjusting Sentencing Policies

Texas

The Economist examines actions by Attorney General Eric Holder to reduce the level of incarceration in federal prisons.  Holder recently announced new reforms designed to reduce the level of federal imprisonment, a population that grew significantly since the 1980s due, in large part, to drug-related mandatory minimum sentences.

Oddly enough, Rick Perry's Texas spearheaded prison reform a decade ago by enacting policy that sent low-level drug-possessors to probation instead of prison.  Per The Economist, the kinder and gentler Texas drug policy has worked.

The Economist article is linked below.

Odd Political Bedfellows: Eric Holder, Rick Perry, and Reducing Incarceration Rates

"America has the world’s largest prison population. China, which has more than four times as many people and nobody’s idea of a lenient judiciary, comes a distant second. One in 107 American adults was behind bars in 2011—the highest rate in the world—and one in every 34 was under 'correctional supervision' (either locked up or on probation or parole)."

---The Economist