TAVIS SMILEY, host:

From NPR in Los Angeles, I'm Tavis Smiley.

In the early 1980s, as the crack epidemic spun out of control, many states reacted by enacting lengthy mandatory minimum sentences, all while cutting back on treatment programs for drug offenders. Tough on crime was the mantra for scores of politicians and three strikes became something more than just a baseball phrase. Meanwhile, the US prison population grew to become one of the largest in the world. Today, however, there is a growing consensus that sentencing laws may be too harsh, and with state budgets in disarray, far too costly. Now some states are rethinking their relationship to the penal system. Our regular commentator Cornel West joins us now with a few thoughts of his own on the topic.

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