Highlighting individual and system costs of incarceration and reducing probation sentences

One way prosecutors can highlight the impact of their sentencing recommendations is to assess the costs to the public and the accused of incarceration time. In Philadelphia, District Attorney Larry Krasner has done just that: he instructed his prosecutors to state, for the record, the estimated cost to taxpayers for any period of incarceration they recommend as well as to note the individual costs of things like lost income and separation from family. Krasner also directed prosecutors to request shorter probation sentences, which would decrease the time people are under the control of the corrections system and could reduce the likelihood that technical violations of probation will lead to further sentences to incarceration.[]City of Philadelphia, Office of the District Attorney, “New Policies Announced February 15, 2018,” https://perma.cc/PQ9N-AMC3.