Spohn (2014) discusses how mandatory and fixed sentencing has led to the significant rise in prison populations. The author discusses how prison populations have increased every decade since early in the 20 century. Some of the reasons for this, as discussed by Spohn, are three strikes laws, getting tough on crime mentality, and mandatory sentences that do not necessarily sentence individuals for crimes on a case-to-case basis. I find it interesting how prison overpopulation can be tied back to the War on Drugs as well, and the author mentions some counter measures to this is the legalization of marijuana in some states. I definitely agree with the author claiming the "tough on crime mentality has been proven ineffective because it did not deter crime or necessarily effect recidivism rates. I personally think the elimination of judicial discretion has contributed to high prison populations as well. Ultimately, Spohn (2014) discusses Tonry's (2014) suggestions for reducing prison and jail populations after seeing an increase of 33%-50% from the 1970s to the 1990s. There are many reasons that have led to the increase, but I agree with Tonry's suggestion of politicians working together on both sides of the spectrum to come up with alternatives to incarceration