SF panel studies science of sentencing
Source: SF Chronicle
San Francisco's progressive law enforcement leaders have launched a new commission that aims to tap a growing field - the science of sentencing - to reduce crime.
The 13-member Sentencing Commission, which held its inaugural meeting Wednesday, is the first of its kind in the state. District Attorney George Gascón pushed for its creation as a response to last year's state prison realignment, which gave counties more responsibility over non-violent convicts.
The idea is to embrace "evidence-based sentencing" in deciding who needs to be locked up, who doesn't, and who can be steered out of the system through education, job training, addiction therapy or mental health treatment.
The traditional focus on punishing offenders "has failed all of us," said Gascón, whose office can exert substantial discretion over sentences in the way it charges suspects and enters into plea deals. "When people reoffend, they're not making our community any safer."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-panel-studies-science-of-sentencing-3773611.php
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Remember diagramming sentences? If the "spatial learners" hadn't figured out a sentence by the time they make you do that crap, then it's waay too late.