NEWS FLASH

Sentences For Georgia Drug Offenders Have Tripled Since 1990 | The state of Georgia has established a Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform, which is working with lawmakers to reform the state’s criminal justice system with the intent of reducing the prison population (the state currently has the nation’s fifth-largest prison system). In an article about these reform efforts, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes that the “average inmate released this year after serving time for drug possession, for example, spent almost two years locked up — more than double the average time served two decades ago. The average length of time spent behind bars for drug and property crimes in general has more than tripled since 1990.” Meanwhile, a whopping 60 percent of the state’s prison population consists of drug and property offenders.