Our prisons are overflowing and the costs in human and monetary terms are enormous. How and why have we sentenced the over 2.2 million adults currently in our prison systems?

This class discusses how judges decide criminal sentences and how politicians control those sentencing decisions. After 8 years of attempting to reduce our prison populations, has the new attorney general signaled a return to the mass incarceration resulting from the “War on Drugs”?

We discuss the fact that more than half of all federal prisoners are serving sentences for drug offenses, and the huge proportion of drug-related offenders in our state prisons. Alternative approaches to drug abuse are discussed.

Instructor the Hon. Donald E. Shelton, who directs the Criminology and Criminal Justice Program at UM-Dearborn, will lead this 90 minute session for those 50 and above.