As the United States became notorious for mass incarceration, California received outsized attention. Not so much for the sheer volume of California imprisonment but because of its chaotic operation. Populist political mood swings led to Eighth Amendment violations that caused a federal court to declare the whole system unconstitutional, a decision ultimately upheld by the US Supreme Court in Brown v. Plata, 563 U.S. 493 (2011). The state responded with innovations commonly referred to as realignment, which include a dramatic devolution of incarcerative power from state to county, among other major changes. Disaster has been avoided, thanks to clever low-level and low-visibility workings of legal and political mechanisms to control populist democracy. But the DNA of California’s mode of governing cautions that nothing remains stable without foundational reform.

中文翻译：

---

量刑改革的狂野西部：加利福尼亚的经验教训

随着美国因大规模监禁而臭名昭著，加利福尼亚受到了极大的关注。并不是因为加利福尼亚监狱的庞大数量，而是因为它的混乱行动。民粹主义的政治情绪波动导致违反第八修正案，导致联邦法院宣布整个制度违宪，美国最高法院在Brown v。Plata，563 US 493（2011）一案中最终维持了这一裁决。该州以通常被称为重组的创新作为回应，其中包括将制胜权从州急剧转移到县，以及其他重大变化。得益于控制民粹主义民主的法律和政治机制的低水平，低可见性的工作，避免了灾难。