New Yorker: Will California Again Lead the Way on Prison Reform?
sentencing reform?
For much of the twentieth century, if you committed a serious crime in California, a judge would sentence you to an ambiguous-sounding prison term—say, five years to life. While you were serving your sentence, a parole board would review your record and decide how long the rest of the sentence should be, based on factors such as your behavior and your participation in prison rehabilitation programs. The idea was to take the specifics of the crime into account in the original sentencing, and then to reward those who seemed to be taking steps toward genuine rehabilitation. read more…
