Cost of locking up Americans too high - Pew study

Cost of locking up Americans too high - Pew study
Mon Mar 2, 2009 7:44pm GMT


WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - One in every 31 U.S. adults is in the corrections system, which includes jail, prison, probation and supervision, more than double the rate of a quarter century ago, according to a report released on Monday by the Pew Center on the States.

The study, which said the current rate compares to one in 77 in 1982, concluded that with declining resources, more emphasis should be put on community supervision, not jail or prison.

"Violent and career criminals need to be locked up, and for a long time. But our research shows that prisons are housing too many people who can be managed safely and held accountable in the community at far lower cost," said Adam Gelb, director of the Center's Public Safety Performance Project, which produced the report.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate and the biggest prison population of any country in the world, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Justice.

more...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN0240756920090302

as well. profit trumps logic.

...this would be cited as a rationale for expanding the death penalty to non-capital crimes. :eyes:

I get the point of the article, but how SAD is it that we're not willing to take up the cause of Constitutional issues, human rights issues, etc - but we'll happily rally around the cry "IT COSTS TOO MUCH!"

Interesting.

First convicts can't work (And how many of them were never able to find work to begin with?) in prison
Then almost nobody will hire them once they're out

A million people a year are busted for pot. 100,00 a year are busted for growing it.

STOP THE INSANITY!! LEGALIZE AND REGULATE!!

problem solved.

for the protection of society. I want people in prison who have committed crimes where I would not want to meet that person on the street at night. I also want people put in prison who have repeatedly proven that they cannot be trusted to mix with society such as repeat drunk drivers. Using that criteria our prison population would be severely diminished.

inmates, or convicts. They are inventory.

is out.

by locking people up. Prisons are a government function.

It is just like the fact that companies shouldn't make a profit on people's health.

You can't put profit above human beings.

--on big opportunities for saving money in the corrections industry at the state level http://www.progressivestates.org/node/22774