Nonviolent Offenders Aren’t the Main Cause of State Prison Growth

Mr. Obama has proposed reducing the sentences of nonviolent offenders, saying last week that nonviolent drug offenders are the “the real reason our prison population is so high.” That is true in the federal prison system, where roughly half of inmates were convicted of drug offenses.But on the much larger state level, inmates convicted of violent crimes, not nonviolent offenses, are most responsible for total prison growth. Reducing the number of inmates convicted of violent crimes – which include murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, armed robbery, and rape – will be politically difficult. Last week, Mr. Obama said, “I don’t have tolerance for violent criminals; many of them may have made mistakes, but we need to keep our communities safe.”