From our files

The overall result, according to our study and other data, is a system of sentencing in which most convicted offenders don’t go to prison and those who do serve relatively short sentences.

The strong public support for truth-in-sentencing reflects a level of public cynicism and concern to which judicial system officials at all levels should respond.

-- From a March 1998 report by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.

The report's co-author, George Mitchell, didn't reference it when he wrote the judge to ask for leniency in sentencing Scott Jensen.