“As you state, California realignment is the biggest change in sentencing and corrections that we’ve ever seen in our lifetimes and probably since the 1950s. Realignment basically changes the responsibility for convicted criminals. It takes a fair amount of the prison population – basically, when it’s all done, about a third of the prison population – and realigns them to county jails and county probation officers. So the realignment basically shifts the responsibility for a very large number of current prisoners back to the counties and back to probation.”

Petersilia on California's Overincarceration:

“We have overincarerated. It’s breaking the state budget. And so let’s get back to the original purpose of prison, which was to house the most dangerous people convicted in the state. And if realignment works, five years out, that’s what we should have.”