The Reverse Mass Incarceration Act

de Lauren-Brooke Eisen, Inimai Chettiar, Brennan Center for Justice

Leaders across the political spectrum agree: The United States must end mass incarceration. Our prison crisis has many causes. One major contributor: a web of perverse financial incentives across the country that spurred more arrests, prosecutions, and prison sentences. To reverse course, the federal government can apply a similar approach. It can be termed a 'Reverse Crime Bill, ' or the 'Reverse Mass Incarceration Act.' It would provide funds to states to reduce imprisonment and crime together. Such an Act would have more reach than any of the other federal proposals. It could be implemented through budgeting procedures. It could be implemented as a stand-alone Act. Or, it could be introduced as an amendment to a pending bill.