"Sentences Are Way Too Long"

categories: Mandatory Minimums, sentencing, three strikes

Published August 25, 2009 @ 04:41AM PT

Brown University economics professor Glenn Loury is the subject of a series of new short interviews at BigThink. He talks about decriminalizing drugs, reforming sentencing in the U.S. and the impact of an assault allegation on his own career. He goes on to say Obama's handling of the Gates issue distracted us from real issues surrounding race relations.

Talking about our broken criminal justice system, Loury says:

"Our sentences are way too long. You put a person in jail for five years or ten years or 20 years for the same crime...the deterrent value is essentially nothing, the research shows this. Three strikes and you're out laws, the laws that say you commit a crime three times and you can be sentenced to 25 years or life, they're madness as policy. They're expressive political symbols, capturing the anger of people at social dysfunction and allowing politicians to show that they're responsive to that anger."

Watch the full video here.

Share this Post

Comments (3)

Here is an interesting case. Perhaps we can give it the heading "Sentences Are Way Too Short". Notice the part about the long rap sheet.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32583149/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/?GT1=43001

Posted by Dennis G. on 08/27/2009 @ 10:03PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Dennis
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
I agree with this man. I think we need to free the prisoners.

Posted by Roxanne Greschner on 08/28/2009 @ 03:00PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Roxanne
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
I agree with this too. I think they need to come up with better ideas on how to decriminalize prisoners and rehabilitate them so that the deterrent rate lowers instead of being steady or rising. I mean think about it, prisoners that sit in prison for years are encouraging other 'younger' inmates to become criminals inside prison walls so that when they are released, it's all they know. Rehabilitation is key.

Posted by Melissa Greschner on 09/13/2009 @ 09:43AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Melissa
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

Comment

Check Spelling

Email me when there are new posts to this thread
Comment Policy

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.

Author

Matt has worked and volunteered in various capacities in criminal justice reform for several years. When he's not blogging, he works as the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project. Views expressed here are Matt's, and don't represent the positions of the Innocence Project.