The huge surge in the U.S. incarceration rate since passage of a tough federal anti-drug and violent crime law in 1994 greatly added to state and federal operating budgets but also coincided with a major reduction in serious crimes. With more and more lawmakers and officials clamoring to impose tougher prison sentences on drug offenders and violent criminals, the nation’s imprisonment rate rose by 24 percent while crime declined 40 percent. [read the full story here]