This story by Lynne Marek in the NLJ begins, "The more lenient incarceration and sentencing practices of New York have resulted in a bigger drop in crime and smaller prison population than have the stiffer practices of California, a Northwestern University School of Law report argues."

Really? NW Law School says that? Not quite.

Turns out the study is by Sentencing Project founder and former director Malcolm Young, who happens to be an adjunct professor at NW. The story describes the Sentencing Project as "a national organization based in Washington that seeks to promote fair sentencing laws and alternatives to incarceration." Whether the laws they seek to promote are fair or unfair is entirely a matter of opinion.

So what we really have here is one more report from an advocate with a well-known agenda. That, by itself, does not mean the books are cooked, but it enhances the probabilities substantially. Unfortunately, the story does not have a link to the actual report, so we don't know.