AlterNet: A Silver Lining to the Economic Crisis: Less Money for Prisons

[marmar]

A Silver Lining to the Economic Crisis: Less Money for Prisons

By Liliana Segura, AlterNet. Posted January 22, 2009.

As states grapple with record budget deficits, more politicians are looking toward criminal justice reform to cut costs.



If you're seeking a silver lining to the current economic crisis, this may well be it: As states across the country confront historic budget shortfalls, more and more politicians are looking toward long-overdue criminal justice reform as a way to cut spending. Suddenly, the money local governments stand to save by slowing down incarceration rates is trumping the political costs traditionally associated with it.

Good news, perhaps, this evolution in thinking, but it's hardly a burst of innovation (let alone political courage). The nation's prisons have been dysfunctional and overcrowded for ages, reaching emergency levels in recent years. Around this time last year, a study released by the Pew Center found that 1 in 100 Americans was behind bars, a sobering statistic that spurred calls for reform, from news articles to op-eds, to (briefly) Hillary Rodham Clinton's primary campaign. One year later, the economic crisis has given reluctant governors and state reps the political cover to initiate reforms that they previously would have considered too risky. Virginia and Kentucky are pondering early release for thousands of low-level prisoners and Michigan, one of four states that spends more on incarceration than education, is considering deep reforms as well.

Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project recently told the Associated Press, "Many political leaders who weren't comfortable enough, politically, to do it before can now, under the guise of fiscal responsibility, implement programs and policies that would be win/win situations, saving money and improving corrections."

Most crucial, perhaps, is the focus on the parole system, where the uniquely American rush to incarcerate meets the ham-fistedness of our so-called war on drugs. According to federal parole statistics, at the end of 2007, more than 5.1 million adult men and women were "supervised in the community, either on probation or parole" in this country. That's 1 in every 45 adults. Furthermore, "the most common type of offense for which offenders were on parole was a drug offense." .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/rights/121114/a_silver_lining_to_the_economic_crisis%3A_less_money_for_prisons/

[Joanne98]

1. YAY

[ixion]

2. easy way to solve over-crowding: release all non-violent drug offenders

that would clear up 80 percent of the population, lower costs, and eliminate over-crowding.

[exboyfil]

3. Do you mean just folks convicted of use and sale

or those convicted of non-violent property crimes as well? What about the situation in which non-drug charges were dropped because of a plea deal on the drug charges?

How about a person convicted of a non-violent crime not related to drug use (ie Jeff Skilling and perhaps Bernie Madoff if he is convicted)?

[ixion]

4. I'm speaking specifically of those charged with drug offenses

not property offenses. As for white-collar criminals, I would say the case would have to be evaluated on it's on merit.

The reason I speak specifically of drug offenders is because it's bogus legislation (zero tolerance, etc) that have paved the way for hundreds of thousands of people to be jailed for drugs. Using drugs is a lifestyle choice, and in and of itself should not be a crime. I'm not talking about more traditional non-violent crime, like fraud.

Clear things up for you?

[exboyfil]

5. Then I agree

I think drugs should be legalized, regulated, and taxed like alchohol and tobacco.

[raccoon]

6. Oh, but then the unemployment rates will go up!

:sarcasm:

Seriously, I totally agree.