A Crucial Test

Chapter 5 tells the story of the first official Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) through the eyes of one of its participants, Marion Sharp. The CIR asked twenty-four demographically stratified voters to review an Oregon ballot measure that increased mandatory minimum sentencing for repeat sexual offenses and driving under the influence of intoxicants. Over five days, participants heard from expert witnesses and reviewed evidence related to the need for and potential impact of mandatory sentencing. Participants engaged in facilitated discussion aimed at gauging the credibility of that evidence and distilling it for voters. Despite flare-ups among participants and behind-the-scenes challenges, at the end of the review Marion and her fellow panelists drafted a Citizens’ Statement containing key facts about the measure and the best arguments favoring and opposing it. That statement appeared in the state Voters’ Pamphlet for the electorate to use before casting their ballots.

The Effect of Prison Population Size on Crime Rates: Evidence from Cocaine and Marijuana Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

Simultaneity between prison populations and crime rates makes it difficult to isolate the causal effect of changes in prison populations on crime. This paper uses marijuana and cocaine mandatory minimum sentencing to break that simultaneity. Using panel data for 50 states over 40 years, this paper finds that the marginal addition of a prisoner results in a higher, not lower crime rate. Specifically, a 1 percent increase in the prison population results in a 0.28 percent increase in the violent crime rate and a 0.17 percent increase in the property crime rate. This counter-intuitive result suggests that incarceration, already high in the U.S, may have now begun to achieve negative returns in reducing crime. As such it supports the work of a number of scholars who have suggested that incarceration may have begun to have a positive effect on crime because of a host of factors.

Land of the Free: Prison Reform Following the War on Drugs

ince its beginnings in 1971, the war on drugs has been largely unsuccessful in reducing drug use. Instead, it has had many unintended consequences, one of which is a huge increase in the federal prison population over the past 40 years. Despite making up only five percent of the world population, the U.S. is home to 25 percent of its prisoners. Since the 1970s, the prison population in the U.S. has skyrocketed due to the implementation of War on Drugs policies. The main reason for the failure of the War on Drugs can be attributed in part to mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Implemented as a part of the Anti- Drug Abuse Act of 1986, these one-size-fits-all policies require a certain punishment based on the amount and type of drug in possession without allowing for flexibility based on context.