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Sentencing Law and Policy
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Impressive new CCJRC website

By Douglas Berman

The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition (“CCJRC”), which runs the great Think Outside the Cage blog, has launched this new website.  It has lots of notable features, including a link this this Drug War Clock noting the millions spent yearly on the war on drugs.  The website also spotlights these sad statistics reflecting modern mass incarceration realities:

  • Colorado prison population has grown 604% since 1980, while the population of the state grew 59%.
  • The odds of a male born in 2001 going to prison during his lifetime are: 1 in 3 for African Americans, 1 in 6 for Latinos, and 1 in 17 for Caucasians.
  • The United States incarcerates more people for drug offenses, than the European Union does for all offenses combined.
  • 65% of women in prison are mothers of children under 18 years old.
  • The [Colorado] Dept of Corrections budget is $703 million, up from $70 million in 1985.