The Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Justice Policy Institute, in a report examining the criminal justice policies of Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Finland, and Germany, contends that the U.S. “should look outside our borders for examples of criminal justice policies that can save money while improving the well-being of both individuals and communities.”
The institute’s Amanda Petteruti said the nations studied “handle law-breaking behavior in fundamentally different ways than the United States. Instead of relying heavily on incarceration, other countries successfully use community-based responses, treatment for addiction, and services to ensure that once a person is released from prison that he or she does not return.”