A huge expense from the war on drugs

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/US_incarceration_timeline-clean.gif

Reagan started the war on drugs and look at the incarceration rate zoom up. Intense probation is cheaper and has a lower recidivism rate than incarceration. But politicians want to appear to be "tough on crime" by making punishment more harsh. This is the result. Let's save money and get better results by switching from incarceration to intense probation for nonviolent drug abusers.

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