Facts and Policy Reforms for Arizona
Like most states, Arizona’s prison population has exploded in recent decades.
In 2017, 41,964 people were imprisoned in the state – more than nine times the size of its prison population in 1980.
Drug-related offenses dominate new prison admissions in Arizona, fueling this growth and contributing to projections that the state’s prison population is set to further increase in the coming years. In 2017, 1 in 3 admissions into prison were for a drug offense, the majority of which were possession charges.
Unsurprisingly, Arizona’s mass incarceration crisis has had an enormous impact on people of color. Arizona has the highest rate of Latino imprisonment in the country. As of 2016, one in 40 Latino men in Arizona was in prison. And while Black people make up only 4 percent of Arizona’s population, Black men constitute 14 percent of its prison population. Ending mass incarceration is a critical – although insufficient – step toward addressing racial disparities in Arizona’s criminal justice system as well as its broader society.
Women are also being sent to prison in Arizona at alarming rates. As of 2016, Arizona had the sixth highest imprisonment rate for women of any state, at 106 per 100,000 residents.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Arizona can dramatically reduce its prison population by implementing just a few sensible reforms:
- Reclassifying drug and minor property offenses as misdemeanors rather than felonies.
- Reforming mandatory minimum and severe sentencing enhancement laws.
- Promoting alternatives to incarceration like substance abuse treatment, mental health care, and other programs.
- Giving judges the ability to use options other than incarceration rather than being mandated by the legislature to send people to prison for certain crimes.
- Ending “truth in sentencing” laws that don’t allow people to be paroled until they’ve served long stretches of time in prison, even if they’ve participated in rehabilitative programs.
If Arizona were to follow these and other reforms in this Smart Justice 50-State Blueprint, by 2025 it could have 23,023 fewer people in its prison system, saving over $1 billion that could be invested in schools, services, and other resources that would strengthen communities. (Total prison population reduction may be +/- 2 due to rounding.)
For more information, along with detailed breakdowns of Arizona’s prison population and the reforms needed to reduce it, click here.