KUAR | By Hunter Field / Arkansas Advocate
The proposed overhaul to Arkansas’ criminal sentencing and parole system moves in the opposite direction of several surrounding states and most of the U.S. and world.
Facing a growing body of research that more incarceration does not lower violent crime rates, policymakers elsewhere have focused on criminal justice measures that reduce the number of offenders in prison.
But the “truth in sentencing” legislation approved by the Arkansas Senate along party lines on Monday aims to increase the time those convicted of the state’s most serious offenses spend behind bars.
Lauren Justice For NPR
Lt. Keith Immerfall walks past prison cells at Waupun Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison in Waupun, Wis.