The Influences of Truth-in-Sentencing Reforms on Changes in States' Sentencing Practices and Prison Populations

The Influences of Truth-in-Sentencing Reforms on Changes in States’ Sentencing Practices and Prison Populations William J. Sabol, Principal Investigator Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change, Case Western Reserve University Katherine Rosich Policy Analyst (Consultant) Kamala Mallik Kane The Urban Institute David P. Kirk University of Chicago (formerly The Urban Institute) Glenn Dubin The Urban Institute Report to the National Institute of Justice Grant # NIJ 98-CE-VX-0006 URBAN INSTITUTE Justice Policy Center research for safer communities RESEARCH REPORT April 2002 i The Influences of Truth-in-Sentencing Reforms on Changes in States’ Sentencing Practices and Prison Populations Contents Acknowledgements...............................................................................................ii Summary and Overview........................................................................................iii Background....................................................................................................................................iii Research questions and summary of key findings....................................................................................iv Overview of the report.....................................................................................................................vii CHAPTER 1. Varieties of Truth in Sentencing...............................................................1 Introduction....................................................................................................................................1 Background on the federal truth-in-sentencing grant program..................................................................1 Evolution of eligibility for federal TIS grants.........................................................................................2 Truth-in-sentencing grants awarded to states........................................................................................5 Truth in sentencing in the states.........................................................................................................7 Conclusions....................................................................................................................................13 CHAPTER 2. Influence of Federal Truth-in-Sentencing Reforms on States’ Sentencing Systems...................................................................................16 Introduction and purpose of this chapter.............................................................................................16 Change in states’ sentencing structures associated with federal reforms...................................................17 Analysis of the patterns of change in states’ truth-in-sentencing laws.......................................................18 Conclusions about the federal grant program role in influencing truth in sentencing in the states....................................................................................................27 CHAPTER 3. Analysis of the Influences of Changes in Sentencing Practices on Prison Admissions and Prison Populations...................................30 Introduction and summary of findings.................................................................................................30 Approach to the analysis...................................................................................................................33 Analysis of percent of sentence served................................................................................................41 State-specific results.......................................................................................................................42 Conclusions from the comparisons of the influences of sentencing reforms on prison populations in the seven states.............................................................................43 State-specific results.......................................................................................................................48 CHAPTER 4. Methodology.....................................................................................88 Analysis of 1994 and 1996 federal truth-in-sentencing legislation in chapter 1................................................................................................................88 Matrix of changes in state sentencing structures in chapter 2..................................................................88 Estimation of expected length of stay in chapter 3................................................................................90 Decomposition of changes in admissions and expected prison population in chapter 3......................................................................................................93 ii Acknowledgements This research was supported by grant #NIJ 98-CE-VX-0006 from the National Institute of Justice, Office of Just