Alternatives to Incarceration

In a major policy speech to the American Bar Association Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder announced sentencing reform measures he is ordering the Justice Department to undertake, especially backing away from the use of mandatory minimum sentencing for low-level nonviolent drug offenders.

Marc Mauer is back with a new edition of the grounbreaking "Race to Incarcerate," this time with an updated graphic novel version designed to take his important message to a younger and broader audience.

Colorado has taken another step down the path of drug sentencing reform with the passage of Senate Bill 250. The governor is expected to sign it into law.

The UK Drug Policy Commission has issued a report calling for the decriminalization of drug possession, among other reforms.

What role will marijuana play in the presidential election campaign? Look to Colorado.

The Republican platform section on crime lays out the party's official positions, and while they stay "tough on crime," there are also some hints of evolving positions.

With state budgets pinched all across the land, some states this year have adopted sentencing reforms.

On Mother's Day, mothers speak out against the drug war, in the United States and Mexico.

The new national drug strategy is out and it looks very much like the old national drug strategy, retaining the seemingly eternal 60:40 split between law enforcement and interdiction on one hand and treatment and prevention on the other.

History is about to be made at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena this weekend. Hemispheric heads of state will discuss alternatives to the drug war and challenge the US prohibitionist model. This could be the beginning of the end.