The National Public Radio retrospective on the 20th anniversary of the Violent Crime Control Act of 1994 featured commentary by President Jeremy Travis. According to the piece,“20 Years Later, Parts Of Major Crime Bill Viewed As Terrible Mistake,” the crime bill “paid to put more cops on the beat, trained police and lawyers to investigate domestic violence, imposed tougher prison sentences and provided money for extra prisons.”
"We now know with the fullness of time that we made some terrible mistakes," said President Travis. "And those mistakes were to ramp up the use of prison. And that big mistake is the one that we now, 20 years later, come to grips with. We have to look in the mirror and say, 'look what we have done.'"
To listen to the NPR segment, click here.
National Research Council’s Committee on Law and Justice, chaired by President Travis, recently released the report titled “The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences” a comprehensive evaluation of scientific evidence on the effects of high imprisonment rates on public safety and crime prevention, as well as their effects on individuals and communities.
