Policy Panel: Putting the "Smart" in the Smart Decarceration Movement: Using Research, Policy and Practice to Transform the Criminal Justice System

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

A paradigm shift coupled with a host of economic, social, and legal factors has led to an unprecedented time in U. S. history, the potential end of mass incarceration. Since 2008, correctional populations have declined an average of one percent each year overall, with states such as New York, Ohio and California seeing substantially higher reductions. Despite these decreases, there remains tremendous uncertainty regarding the viability of prison downsizing. Is mass decarceration achievable and sustainable? This policy panel will explore these and other issues surrounding how to decrease dramatically correctional populations in the United States.

Sub Unit

• Policy Panels

Individual Presentations

• Framing the Issue: What We Know and Need to Know about Reducing Correctional Populations - Angela Marie Moore, National Institute of Justice

• Exploring the Numbers: An Examination of Correctional Populations over Time - Danielle Kaeble, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice

• Uniting Science, Policy, and Practice to Advance Smart Decarceration - Carrie Pettus-Davis, Smart Decarceration Initiative

Chair

• Angela Marie Moore, National Institute of Justice

Discussant

• Glenn E. Martin, JustLeadershipUSA