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87 UMKC L. Rev. 113 (2018-2019)
Long-Term Sentences: Time to Reconsider the Scale of Punishment

handle is hein.journals/umkc87 and id is 123 raw text is: LONG-TERM SENTENCES: TIME TO RECONSIDER THE SCALE OF PUNISHMENT Marc Mauer* In recent years, there has been a growing bipartisan consensus that the uniquely American policy of mass incarceration is both fiscally and morally unsustainable. Several decades of policy initiatives prioritizing the use of the criminal justice system as the primary means of addressing crime have vaulted the United States into the unenviable position of being a world leader in the use of imprisonment.' This phenomenon has produced a host of undesirable ripple effects-the collateral consequences of a felony conviction-that now greatly impair the life prospects of millions of individuals, with a particularly striking effect on low-income communities of color. This article will describe the origins and contours of the growing movement for justice and sentencing reform and assess its impact on the scale of incarceration to date. There are good reasons to be encouraged about these developments. However, it is also clear that at the current pace of decarceration, the cumulative effect of this movement will fall far short of what is necessary to achieve a more rational, compassionate balance in the justice system. A key issue in assessing the decarceration trend is American sentencing policy and practice related to the length of prison terms. Defendants convicted of felonies in the U.S. are more likely both to be sentenced to prison and to serve more time in prison than in comparable nations.2 The excessive nature of punishment in the U.S. is not based on a rational analysis of incarceration and the fundamental objectives of sentencing policy. Moreover, unduly long prison terms are counterproductive for public safety and contribute to the dynamic of diminishing returns as the prison system has expanded. I. THE RISE OF MASS INCARCERATION Incarceration in the United States rose at an unprecedented rate for nearly four decades beginning in 1973.3 Research by the National Research Council reveals that, between 1980 and 2010, the 222% increase in the rate of incarceration in state prisons was a function of changes in policy, not changes in crime rates. * Marc Mauer is the Executive Director of The Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Race to Incarcerate, co-editor (with Meda Chesney-Lind) of Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences ofMass Imprisonment, and co-author (with Ashley Nellis) of The Meaning of Life: The Case for Abolishing Life Sentences, all from The New Press. Thanks to Nazgol Ghandnoosh and Ashley Nellis for constructive feedback and discussion of these issues. 1 See Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Yes, U.S. Locks People Up at a Higher Rate Than Any Other Country, WASH. POST (July 7, 2015), http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/07/yes- u-s-locks-people-up-at-a-higher-rate-than-any-other-country/?utm term=. 9375e4 17616d. 2 See AMANDA PETTERUTI, JUST. POL'Y INST., FINDING DIRECTION: EXPANDING CRIMINAL JUSTICE OPTIONS BY CONSIDERING POLICIES OF OTHER NATIONS 10-13 (2011), http://perma.cc/7RAS-5MXG. 3 See NAT'L RES. COUNCIL, THE GROWTH OF INCARCERATION IN THE UNITED STATES: EXPLORING CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 33 (J. Travis et al. eds., 2014). 4 Id. at 52-55.

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