JUSTICE

WHY EXCESSIVE INCARCERATION DOESN'T WORK

EZEKIEL EDWARDS, DMI BLOG - The number of inmates incarcerated for drug
possession between 1980 and 2005 grew by more than 1000% and now cost
$8.3 billion dollars every year. As a result, between 1985 and 2004,
states increased spending on corrections by 202%, while spending on
public assistance decreased by more than 60%, and spending on higher
education, Medicaid, and secondary/elementary education grew by just 3%,
47 %, and 55% respectively.

With an eye towards our prison epidemic, the Vera Institute of Justice
released a report recently on imprisonment in America titled
"Reconsidering Incarceration: New Directions for Reducing Crime". Here
is a summary of its findings:

- Research shows that while the U.S. experienced a dramatic drop in
crime between 1992 and 1997, imprisonment was responsible for just 25%
of that reduction.

- The remaining 75% was caused by other factors, including lower
unemployment, higher wages, more education, more high school graduates,
fewer young persons in the population, increase in the number of police
officers (provided that the number of police did not necessarily
translate into more arrests), and decreases in crack cocaine markets.

- The impact of incarceration on crime is inconsistent from one study to
the next (research suggests that a 10% increase in incarceration could
lead to no difference in the crime rate, or a 22% decrease, or a
decrease only in property crime). The most consistent figure is that a
10% increase in imprisonment results in a 2% to 4% drop in crime rates.

- Researchers focusing on specific neighborhoods found that more
incarceration can actually increase crime rates, arguing that "high
rates of imprisonment break down the social and family bonds that guide
individuals away from crime, remove adults who would otherwise nurture
children, deprive communities of income, reduce future income potential,
and engender a deep resentment toward the legal system. As a result, as
communities become less capable of maintaining social order through
families or social groups, crime rates go up."

-Increases in prison populations in states which already have large
prison populations have less impact on crime (and eventually begin to
increase crime rates) than in states with smaller prison populations.

- Analysts are nearly unanimous in their conclusion that continued
growth in incarceration will prevent considerably fewer, if any, crimes,
and at substantially greater costs to taxpayers.

- The more employment, the less crime. Imprisonment reduces employment,
and hence can foster more crime. "Incarceration creates problems of low
earnings and irregular employment for individuals after release from
prison by dissuading employers from hiring them, disqualifying them from
certain professions, eroding job skills, limiting acquisition from work
experience, creating behaviors inconsistent with work routines outside
prison, and undermining social connections to good job opportunities."
Moreover, employers may shun neighborhoods with high incarceration
rates, and prison can generate connections to illegal rather than legal
employment. . .

- Research showed that a 10% increase in real wages produced significant
decreases in both real property and violent crime.

- An increase in citizens' education levels were associated with lower
crime rates . . . Researchers argued that a 1% increase in male high
school graduation rates would save the country $1.4 billion through
crime reduction. Moreover, prison-based education programs were found to
dramatically reduce recidivism rates. . .

http://www.dmiblog.net/archives/2007/03/alternatives_to_incarceration.html


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