Also: IIRC, a fair number of the people with long sentences for (say) drug possession are there as part of a plea deal which allowed them to avoid more serious

Also: IIRC, a fair number of the people with long sentences for (say) drug possession are there as part of a plea deal which allowed them to avoid more serious charges. If we legalized drug possession, they would still have gone to jail, just on a different set of charges.