After a nearly yearlong review, the ABA Justice Kennedy Commission has concluded that America's criminal justice systems rely too heavily on incarceration and need to consider other, more effective alternatives.

In October 2003, ABA President Dennis Archer formed the ABA Justice Kennedy Commission to review the "inadequacies - and the injustices - in our prison and correctional systems" identified last summer in a speech to the 2003 ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

These recommendations, which do not reflect ABA policy, will be considered by the ABA House of Delegates for adoption as policy at its Annual Meeting in Atlanta, August 9 and 10.