Crime drop since 1994 has been bigger in states that cut imprisonment rates. “Two decades after Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 — with lawmakers focused on locking up more offenders for longer periods — the nation’s imprisonment rate has climbed 24 percent and crime has declined 40 percent. But research shows that many other factors have been at work in the nation’s crime drop and several states have demonstrated that it is possible to reduce imprisonment and crime at the same time.”