Sentencing and Corrections

13 April

• Maybe sentencing regime is not as important to the run-up of incarceration as the culture of the state.
• Meetings about sentencing tend now to contain more social scientists than judges.
• Sentencing courts should look at culpability and public safety, and find the facts that are relevant to those two things, not just prior record and current offense.
• A lot of drug courts won't work with people whose crimes aren't drug-related (i.e., if the crime is theft, but the theft was committed to get money to feed the drug addiction). Also, drug treatment programs aren't located where the highest concentrations of drug problems are.
• Note that there could be less racial disparity in drug enforcement: just crack down at the university. Also note that people in the drug-ridden communities ask for better enforcement, which for their sins they are given. And that might create enough blowback to lead to less enforcement overall.
• Some problems with drug courts: metrics are suspicious (i.e., measurements of success have enormous selection bias), judges aren't treatment professionals, and we're squandering judicial resources.