Let’s take a quick break from moneymaking ideas and business tips to pay attention to the Sentencing Reform Act of 2015. This is an important piece of legislation that will help reform the state of our legal system. The new law, designed to further improve mandatory sentencing ratio, will help solve problems associated with overcrowded prisons and the excessive government spending required to maintain them.
Under the new law, judges are given more freedom to determine the right sentences for low-level, non-violent offenders. The current mandatory sentence of 5 years in prison will no longer be mandatory, which means problems such as African-American offenders being sentenced more often can also be solved under the new law.
The law will also result in a lot of inmates currently serving their mandatory sentences for minute drug offenses to be released, according to studies by the criminal justice degree program of Portland State University.
To learn more about the impacts of this sentencing reform and why it matters, read the complete infographic by Portland State University.
Portland State University Online Bachelor’s Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice