28 arrest is almost unbelievable. I recall cocaine dealers getting serious time with about one ounce or more in late 89-90 as the Feds were really busting folks. As long as a person was tried in 90 days they all spent some 7 years minimum in the Fed pen. Why is it any less these days with heroin and oxy?
The city of Baltimore has made a conscious push to keep folks out of prison for crimes... they cut the incarceration rate almost in half in 5 years. As one would expect, this has increased the crime rate (real crime rate... not stats based on convictions). Other cities are doing the same thing.
I used to think that way, then came my nephew-in-law. Turns out if you keep everything you get arrested for really minor you can spend a lot of time in the back of cop cars and very little actually in jail.