THE LAST WORD 08-05-15

THE LAST WORD

Should prison sentences be based on crimes that haven’t been committed yet? Pennsylvania (a state with 2,000 more people in its prison system than it has beds for) may soon become the first state to factor in future crime during sentencing, Minority Report-style. Facing the fact that 1 in 3 Pennsylvania inmates is arrested again within a year of release, a state commission is finalizing a plan that, if implemented, could allow some offenders who are deemed low risk to get off without jail or serve less time, while criminals who are likely to offend again would get a longer sentence. Fair? Decide for yourself after reading up at FiveThirtyEight on what this system could actually look like.