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From the Director
Another Bureau of Justice Statistics report announcing yet another increase in the number of people in U.S. jails and prisons is hardly surprising. This is, after all, the twenty-fourth straight year that the Bureau has announced such an increase. This seemingly inevitable growth has already pushed this country into the unenviable position of locking up more of its population than any other nation on earth.
The good news is that there is now a greater willingness on the part of many states to pursue correctional and prison reform. Budget pressures, growing public support for alternatives to prison for non-violent offenders, and yawning needs in education and health all have created the most receptive political environment for reform in decades.
The challenge in reversing nearly thirty years of prison growth lies in making the extant research accessible and understandable to state legislatures and governors’ offices, crafting "real world" substantive and political strategies, and making clear the many benefits of steering funding away from corrections and into other essential services such as education and health care. This is a challenge that Vera is uniquely positioned to undertake. No other organization in the United States has Vera’s expertise in research and evaluation, planning and operating demonstration projects, and providing national technical assistance, combined with Vera’s reputation for solid and unbiased work.
Over the next few years Vera will no doubt devote a great deal of its organizational energy to this effort. It may seem next to impossible to reverse the decades-old trend toward higher rates of incarceration, but the potential benefits of greater public safety, healthier communities, and a more equitable justice system make this daunting project all the more worthwhile.
—Michael Jacobson
[ last modified 2/5/2007 ]
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