The Constitution Project shows supports for Smarter Sentencing Act

Former judges and prosecutors from across the country are urging Congress to adopt the Smarter Sentencing Act, bipartisan legislation designed to relieve the nation's overcrowded prisons by giving federal judges more discretion in sentencing those convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, said The Constitution Project in a press release. 

 

"Maintaining the status quo in federal sentencing policy is both fiscally imprudent and a threat to public safety. We are deeply concerned that spending on incarceration has jeopardized funding for some of our most important law enforcement priorities," wrote the 130 former judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials in a letter organized by The Constitution Project and delivered to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees today.

 

The United States has seen a 500 percent increase in the number of inmates in federal custody over the last 30 years, and almost half of all federal inmates are serving sentences for drug offenses. Additionally, over the past three decades, spending on federal incarceration has increased by more than 1100 percent.  In 2014, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that implementation of these reforms would save taxpayers approximately $4 billion over ten years.

 

To read more CLICK HERE