Data are presented from California, Florida, and Wisconsin, as well as the United States as a whole. One article notes that the prison spending in California has increased from 2 percent of the State budget in 1980 to 9.9 percent in 1995, while spending on higher education has declined from 12.6 percent to 9.5 percent in the same period. Similar trends are reported in other States, including Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The discussions also note the impacts of tougher sentencing laws such as California's three strikes law and more than 1,000 anticrime laws passed in that State in the last 15 years. The materials describe student protests about budget cuts, tuition increases, and the elimination of financial aid programs. Figures and tables