Notable (non-Blakely) state sentencing stories

This afternoon brings a diverse and interesting set of articles on various state sentencing developments (none of which — gasp! — have anything to do with Blakely):

• From Pennsylvania, this article discusses quite optimistically the opening of a new drug court in Lancaster County.  (More resources on drug courts are at this link.)

• From Georgia, this article reports that the Governor Sonny Perdue has announced he “won’t ask lawmakers this year to modify any of the harsh criminal punishment laws enacted in Georgia a decade ago that critics say are jamming state prisons and forcing judges to impose sentences that don’t always fit the crime.”

• From Illinois, this article discusses the success of the state’s Sheridan Correctional Center, a so-called “drug prison” which focuses exclusively on drug treatment.

• From California, this editorial, building on a recent report from the Little Hoover Commission about women in prison discussed here, laments that the state is “failing miserably in dealing with incarcerated females.”