ARIZONA | Justice Strategies

Arizona's rigid sentencing system has put the state head and shoulders above its neighbors in the use of imprisonment, while pushing the prison system near the breaking point. Justice Strategies has worked since 2003 to document the tremendous fiscal and human cost of Arizonaâ€™s sentencing system as well as the failure of privatization to reduce the burden it places on state taxpayers.

Justice Strategies Research suggests Arizona immigration law echoes failed federal immigrant policing act

A new Christian Science Monitor article cites Justice Strategies’ research on the federal immigration act, 287(g), which may have served as a precursor to the widely denounced Arizona immigration law. “Democracy on Ice” is an in-depth investigation of the 287(g) program, which deputizes state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws. Aarti Shahani is quoted in the article as concluding that “the 287(g) program has failed.… It has harmed, not served our public safety.”

Arizona Overview

Arizona's rigid sentencing system has put the state head and shoulders above its neighbors in the use of imprisonment. Population growth and a rule that all prisoners must serve 85 percent of their sentences have pushed the system near the breaking point and placed a large financial burden on state taxpayers. The state has experimented with prison privatization but recent research indicates that the policy has done little or nothing to control rising costs.

Report: No reliable data on private prison savings (AZ)

(The Explorer News - Ryan J. Stanton - March 30, 2005)

It was 11 years ago when Arizona first entered the business of outsourcing its corrections operations to private, for-profit corporations with the approval of a privately-run state prison in Marana.

Cost-Saving or Cost-Shifting: The Fiscal Impact of Prison Privatization in Arizona

Arizona policymakers responded to claims that significant cost-saving have been achieved through privatization by nearly tripling the number of state-contracted beds. But Justice Strategiesâ€™ analysis finds that these claims are based on flawed, outdated research that failed to address critical factors including population differences and the cost of financing.

Arizona lawmakers join call for sentencing reform

(May 12, 2004)Â Â Respected Republican Rep. Bill Konopnicki (R â€“ Stafford) and Sen. Carolyn Allen (R â€“ Scottsdale) welcomed the release of a report blaming the growth in incarceration on Arizonaâ€™s rigid mandatory sentencing laws, and they pledged to support legislation establishing a sentencing commission to study the matter.

Arizona Prison Crisis: A Call for Smart On Crime Solutions

With the ninth highest rate of incarceration in the nation, Arizona has become the incarceration capital of the western United States. The rate of prison population growth in 2002 was twice the regional average and the state incarcerates women, Latinos and African Americans at higher rates than its neighbors. Justice Strategies analysts found that mandatory sentencing laws are fueling overcrowding in the state by filling prisons with substance abusers.

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RESEARCH