Natasha Frost

Jeff Sessions again connects lighter drug sentences to a rise in crime

Natasha Frost, a mass incarceration expert in the Northeastern University School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, said in an interview following the new policy “[t]here is no solid evidence that mandatory sentences — or even harsher sentences more generally — have had a substantial effect on crime rates.”

Advocates: Mass. unlawfully isolates mentally ill inmates

Across the country, there is a strong movement to limit the use of segregation in prisons, especially for juveniles and people with mental illness, said Natasha A. Frost, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University who coauthored a recent paper on segregation for the National Institute of Justice. Change is driven […]

Boston Magazine

Big house, big mouth

Before Aaron Hernandez ended up in his jail, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson was not particularly aware of TMZ. Leaning against the wall of what, until recently, had been the former Patriot’s cell, the 60-year-old sheriff says, “I do know it now.” The celebrity gossip site has all but had Hodgson on speed dial since […]

U.S. Prison Populations Decline, Reflecting New Approach to Crime

<nyt_text> The prison population in the United States dropped in 2012 for the third consecutive year, according to federal statistics released on Thursday, in what criminal justice experts said was the biggest decline in the nation’s recent history, signaling a shift away from an almost four-decade policy of mass imprisonment. The number of inmates in […]