New Study on Imprisonment Urges Reconsideration
The spiraling trend toward ever-increasing numbers of prisoners over the past 30 years continues with no end in sight. In 1972, the total prison population in the United States numbered about 330,000 people. Today, there are more than 2,250,000 people in prison.
That enormous growth has been spawned by the notion that a "get tough" approach to crime will better protect society and reduce lawlessness. But a new study by the Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C. based policy advisory group, concludes that there appears to be little correlation between crime rates and the harsh penalties that have fueled unprecedented growth and unparalleled rates of incarceration in the United States.
"Incarceration and Crime: A Complex Relationship," analyzes research conducted on the relationship between incarceration and crime. The popularly held belief that incarceration reduces the crime-rate appears to be a gross over-simplification. While crime rates have dropped significantly in the past decade, only about 25% of the reduction can be attributed to incarceration. Three-quarters of the decline is attributable to other factors, including a growing economy, changes in the market for illegal drugs, law enforcement strategies such as community policing, and community responses to crime. According to the report, there are more effective ways to fight crime than incarceration. For example, drug treatment, interventions with at-risk families, and school completion programs all have a greater impact on crime-prevention and are much more cost-efficient.
As our society bears the exorbitant and escalating costs of incarceration, as communities struggle with the decimation of misguided criminal justice policy, and as families are ripped apart by punishments that are unduly harsh and counter-productive, there is "an urgent need for the reconsideration of the punitive sentencing and parole policies that currently dominate the criminal justice landscape." This report provides a well considered starting point for that reconsideration.
Link to Sentencing Project Study: "Incarceration & Crime: A Complex Relationship:"
