In “One in 31: the Long Reach of American Corrections,” by the Pew Center, Pennsylvania is shown to have one out of every 28 citizens under “correctional control.” This means that one out of every 28 Pennsylvanians is either in prison, on probation, or on parole. The study also shows that Pennsylvania ranks second nationwide for the length of sentences given to violent offenders. Adam Gelb, director for the Pew Center’s Public Safety Performance Project believes that Pennsylvania would benefit from creating more alternatives to incarceration and by implementing more gradual punishments for those who violate their probation. Gelb noted that, in enacting new sentencing legislation last year, Pennsylvania passed “one of the smartest and toughest packages of reform.”
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