Over the past 30 years, Arizona’s criminal sentencing policy has helped drive up its prison population to unprecedented levels. Today, the cost of incarcerating Arizona’s 40,000+ prisoners is approaching $1 billion annually prompting some to call for revision of Arizona’s sentencing code. This issue presents an overview of the arguments for and against sentencing reform.

Public finance—taxes and other revenues collected by government and the expenditure of those revenues—always has been somewhat controversial because of wide philosophical differences among residents regarding the role that government should play in providing public services and in collecting taxes and fees from its residents. Recently, public finance in Arizona has become a prominent public issue due to the need to resolve the deficits that afflict state government and most county and municipal governments in Arizona.