The U.S. Sentencing Commission's new report on federal cocaine sentencing policy was delivered to Congress on Tuesday.
Replying for Labour, shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter said public opinion should have a role in sentencing policy.
The lower crime figures may have had more to do with demography (fewer young men around) and changes in policing than with sentencing policy.
Sentencing policy is an issue that regularly provokes angry criticism of the judiciary, with victims often complaining that the punishment doesn't fit the crime.
The Archbishop is calling for a fresh look at sentencing policy, urging ministers to exercise "caution" in creating more criminal offences with jail sentences.
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But there are also practical doubts about America's sentencing policy.
The SNP plans to bring forward new laws to give victims of crime with a bigger say in sentencing policy and parole decisions, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill told the conference.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said the government should increase the number of prison places if the new sentencing policy resulted in more people being sent to jail.
But no one, not even the police, believes that any sentencing policy, however draconian, can ensure that it will be impossible for persistent sex offenders ever to have the opportunity to prey on the young and the vulnerable.
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The MoJ said it was assessing its sentencing and rehabilitation policy.
The SNP's soft touch policy on sentencing undermines our efforts to tackle this problem.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper hit out at the coalition's policy on sentencing, describing it as "completely confused" when it came to jail terms for gang members.
Increasing the maximum penalties might be attractive to the same crowd who thought that ever increasing prison terms under effectively mandatory criminal sentencing guidelines was good policy, but experience, and the Supreme Court, taught us otherwise.
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The report includes a comprehensive list of measures the organization considers admirable as well as policy suggestions for 2013, including sentencing reform, limiting the use of incarceration as a sentencing option, restricting punishments for prior convictions, and eliminating juvenile life without parole.
But I think we need much more investment in resources to go in to community sentencing because, you know, it's clear that the prison policy we've been pursuing simply isn't working in the way that we want it to.
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