December 11, 2018; New York Times

In the past two years, progressive district attorneys have been elected in a wide range of cities, note Emily Bazelon and Miriam Krinsky in the New York Times. But will electoral victories be enough to uproot a racialized criminal justice system, which Michelle Alexander has labeled the New Jim Crow, built up over decades?

The stakes are high. The data are well known, but the physical and human costs are worth enumerating. The introduction of a new report from the nonprofit Brennan Center for Justice lists some of those costs:

Over the last four decades, the total incarcerated population in the United States has quintupled, to 2.2 million, or nearly one out of 100 adults. About 10 6 million people cycle in and out of jail each year. While the causes are complex, it’s clear that punitive policies have contributed to the incarceration build-up. These policies have included the war on drugs, over-policing of poor and minority communities, and harsh directives from legislators, like mandatory-minimum sentencing laws.

[For more on this story by STEVE DUBB, go to https://nonprofitquarterly.org...rosecutorial-system/]