ARIZONA

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 Arizona’s sentencing system as well as the failure of privatization to reduce the burden it places on state taxpayers.

Judy Greene on Legalease

Justice Strategies' Director Judith Greene discusses prison sentencing reform in Arizona with State Representative and House Judiciary Committee member Cecil Ash and Maricopa County Deputy Chief of Probation, Therese Wagner, on Phoenix's legal talk radio show Legalease with Dennis Wilenchik. Sitting in for the host was Jack Wilenchik. The show originally aired October 26, 2011 from 4 to 5 PM (MT) on 1100 AM KFNX.

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Arizona prison sentences among toughest for many crimes

Whether it's putting a shoplifter behind bars for three years or a child-porn user away for 200 years, Arizona imposes among the longest, harshest sentences of any state in the country for a wide variety of crimes.

Politically, that has been popular, but the practice carries a hefty price tag. This year, the state will spend more than $1 billion to keep prisoners behind bars, and that figure will balloon if Arizona carries out plans to build or contract for as many as 6,500 new prison beds over the next five years.

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Arizona defense lawyers urge sentencing reforms

Defense attorneys on Tuesday called for a raft of sentencing reforms they said would save money and put Arizona in line with other states that have reduced prison populations and lowered crime rates.

But the group likely will have a tough time convincing a majority of lawmakers.

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Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice Release New Report on Sentencing Reform

Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice (AACJ) held a press conference this morning to announce the release of a report highlighting the need for sentencing reform.
The study, conducted by Judith Greene of Justice Strategies, notes that the state's criminal justice policies have "been among the harshest in the nation for many years" -- and are no longer fiscally viable.

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Turning the Corner: Opportunities for Effective Sentencing and Correctional Practices in Arizona

On February 1, 2011, Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, a statewide not-for-profit membership organization of criminal defense lawyers, law students and associated professionals, released Turning the Corner: Opportunities for Effective Sentencing and Correctional Practices in Arizona a report prepared by Justice Strategies' Director Judy Greene.

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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.

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Local Democracy on ICE: Why State and Local Governments Have No Business in Federal Immigration Law Enforcement

287(g) is a tiny provision in federal immigration law that allows Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to take local police away from their mission of fighting crime, and pull them into the murky territory of targeting immigrants for arrest without suspicion of crime. ICE described the 287(g) program as a public safety measure to target “criminal illegal aliens,” but its largest impact has been on law-abiding immigrant communities. Rather than focusing on serious crime, police resources are spent targeting day-laborers, corn-vendors and people with broken tail-lights.

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

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.

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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 Strategies' 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.

***Justice Strategies analysis finds cost-saving claims based on flawed, outdated research. ***

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Arizona lawmakers join call for sentencing reform

Respected Republican Rep. Bill Konopnicki (R – Stafford) and Sen. Carolyn Allen (R – Scottsdale) welcomed the release of a report blaming the growth in incarceration on Arizona’s rigid mandatory sentencing laws, and they pledged to support legislation establishing a sentencing commission to study the matter.

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