Reuters: U.S. Justice Department orders tougher criminal punishments

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Holly Harris, head of the bipartisan sentencing reform organization U.S. Justice Action Network, said reform efforts have taken hold even in deep-red conservative states where Republicans dominate. 

“It’s frustrating that Washington is not looking to the states as the laboratories of democracy,” she said. 

Twenty-three U.S. states since 2007 have changed their sentencing laws to reserve prison space for the most serious or repeat offenders, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-crime-sentencing-idUSKBN1881KO