To reform its criminal justice system, Maryland's legislature took two massive steps in 2016. First, nonviolent offenders who had been given severe prison sentences in the past would be eligible for early release. Second, mandatory minimum sentences for newly convicted nonviolent offenders were rescinded, meaning that those found guilty of intent to distribute illegal drugs would no longer automatically face ten years in prison. As a result, Maryland expects to reduce its prison population by nearly two thousand and save at least $80.5 million dollars in incarceration costs over the next decade. Maryland is hardly the only state to have taken dramatic measures with regard to corrections and criminal justice. In 2010, South Carolina eliminated some mandatory minimums, changed low-level

Question

property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, and made it less likely for probation and parole violators to be incarcerated. By 2016, these measures had led to an 18 percent drop in South Carolina's prison population and $18 million in corrections savings. Overall, between 2006 and 2016, twenty-eight states saw their prison populations decline, contributing to a small but significant trend in American corrections: fewer inmates. In 2015, the U.S. prison population fell by just over 2 percent, hitting its lowest level since 2005 and continuing a six-year downward course. Which of the following decarceration methods was used by Maryland to decrease the prison population?

A. Decreasing the probability that nonviolent offenders will be sentenced to prison
B. Removing any level of criminality associated with drugs from the books
C. Decreasing the rate of imprisonment for probation and parole violators
D. All of the above

Answer 1

Answer: A