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Article: New Jersey Officials Launch Effort to Cut Prison Population, Costs.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
- Article date:
- December 14, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Randy Diamond, The Record, Hackensack, N.J. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Dec. 14--Lawmakers and key McGreevey administration officials have quietly launched a cost-cutting crusade to trim the state's prison population by reversing some hard-line punishment polices of the last two decades.
The effort is similar to what is going on in dozens of other cash-strapped states that have turned to their bloated prison programs for savings by eliminating mandatory minimum sentences, relaxing parole laws, and diverting more drug offenders to less costly treatment programs.
New Jersey's proposals are in the early stages, and are not as ...