The ballot initiative offered a dramatic solution to the problem of California's overcrowded prisons and jails. Called Proposition 47, it proposed to downgrade a number of nonviolent felonies involving less than $950-including grand theft, shoplifting, writing bad checks, receiving stolen property, and drug possession-to misdemeanors. As a result of this change, offenders convicted of these crimes would probably not wind up behind bars. In 2014, thirty states passed legislation designed to lower incarceration rates, often by steering nonviolent offenders to community supervision. These policy choices reflect a small but significant trend in American corrections: fewer inmates. To be sure, these decreases do little to threaten our nation's title as "the globe's leading incarcerator." About

Question

2.2 million Americans are in prison and jail. The United States locks up six times as many of its citizens as Canada does, and eight times as many as a number of European democracies. Still, the fact that politicians are willing to accept policies that reduce the number of inmates represents a sea change in the country's corrections strategies. Which of the following was NOT a factor in federal prison growth?

A. Congress abolished parole in the federal corrections system.
B. The number of federal inmates sentenced for immigration violations increased.
C. The number of female offenders in prison doubled.
D. Changes in habeas corpus proceedings.

Answer 1

Answer: D