The New York Times

October 20, 2015

By Timothy Williams

Excerpts from article

More than 130 police chiefs, prosecutors and sheriffs-including some of the most prominent law enforcement officials in the country-are adding their clout to the movement to reduce the nation’s incarceration rate. 

Asserting that “too many people are behind bars that don’t belong there”, the officials plan to announce on Wednesday that they have formed a group to push for alternatives to arrests, reducing the number of criminal laws and ending mandatory minimum prison sentences. 

Democrats and Republicans alike have pressed to temper the economic and social cost of mass incarceration, which has been driven by harsher penalties approved by Congress and state legislatures from 1970s to the 1990s, when crime rates were higher than today.

The law enforcement leaders now say reducing incarceration will improve public safety because people who need treatment for drug and alcohol problems or mental health issues will be more likely to improve and reintegrate into society if they receive consistent care, something relatively few jails or prisons offer.