NCJ Number
139608
Journal
Corrections Compendium Volume: 14 Issue: 5 Dated: (June 1989) Pages: 1,4-7
Date Published
1989
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article examines the short-term impact of Washington State's Sentencing Reform Act (SRA) on the size of the prison population and possible trends over the long term.
Abstract
The SRA provides sentencing guidelines for judges designed to make sentences more equitable and to reduce the disparities many had found in the previous sentencing system. The 1986 legislature amended the SRA to require review of pre-SRA inmates' sentences as well. These court orders and the ensuing re-evaluations alone provided for the early release of 1,800 inmates. The releases account for most of the decline in inmate population over the last several years. As a result of the SRA, many convicted offenders are serving shorter sentences and are assigned to serve time in jail rather than in prison; therefore, although the prison population has declined, the number of inmates in local jails has jumped dramatically. Also, the effect of the SRA has been to lower the amount of time offenders do for nonviolent offenses and increase the time that offenders do for serious violent offenses. The problem is that after the initial drop in the prison population, there may be a subsequent increase in the prison population as inmates stay in prison longer.