While firearm violence accounted for about 70 percent of all homicides between 1993 and 2011, guns were used in less than 10 percent of all non-fatal violent crimes.
They imposed long sentences for non-violent drug crimes and they denied judges the power to consider extenuating circumstances, or indeed anything other than the convict's criminal history and the amount of drugs, when sentencing.
The program, mostly used for young, non-violent offenders involved in drug related crimes, resulted in returning a more disciplined inmate to society within a shortened period of time (inmates received additional time off for completing the program).