Despite tough laws and tough talk from politicians, U.S. violent crime rates have gone up for two years straight (Washington Post). This can't please President Bush, whose approval ratings are already perched on the toilet bowl's rim.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' answer to rising crime:
"legislation that would set new minimum sentences, establish longer penalties for the illegal use of firearms, and broaden conspiracy statutes to allow for easier prosecution of violent gang members" (Washington Post).
Administration officials seem dead-set on knee-jerk reacting to problems after they occur. Might it be better (and cheaper) to develop a strategy for preventing crime? For years, researchers and law enforcement officials have said that higher quality education is one key to long-term crime prevention.
Unfortunately, a new strategy would have to get past posturing politicians and prison-industry lobbyists....
Prisons: One Facet of Crime's Costs
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the average cost of housing state and federal prisoners exceeded $22,600 per inmate just in the year 2001. Costs have likely increased due to inflation, but I couldn't find current figures.
A separate BJS report found that 2,193,798 people were in state or federal prison or local jails in 2005, a nearly 3% increase since 2004. For a low-ball estimate of tax dollars spent on housing inmates nationwide, multiply the 2005 number of inmates by the 2001 average annual costs. The answer: in 2005, we spent (at least) $49.5 billion on housing inmates.
As incarcerations increase, the costs will likely increase. The number of people incarcerated in the U.S grew nearly 20% from 1995 to 2005 (BJS):
- 491 prison inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents (2005)
- 411 prison inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents (1995).
I don't know if private prison companies have cost the taxpayers more or less, because studies conflict. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the prison industry--while pushing for privatization--predicted cost savings of 20%, but the BJA found the savings to be closer to 1%, mostly due to cheap labor.
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A Wall Street Journal article (May 27, 2007) predicts big profits for America's private-prison companies, because public prisons are overcrowded. Given governmental desperation--and reduced competition resulting form the fact that there are only 3 major prison companies--those companies may be able to name their price. Someone has to pay for those profits.
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Crime Prevention & Education
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For years, people involved in law enforcement, education and even economics have said that high-quality, early education ultimately helps prevent crimes, thus lowering the taxpayers' ultimate costs of pursuing, prosecuting and imprisoning criminals. A few examples are below.
Analysts from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis found that every dollar invested in good preschool ultimately saves $17 on law enforcement, special education, and welfare. The analysts strongly support increased funding for early education.
In a Maine Today op-ed, Portland's chief of police argued, "Research and my experience have shown me that helping kids get the right start in life is one key to preventing crime."
The Chicago Longitudinal Study compared long-term performance by 1,286 low income children who were part of an early-education program to performance by children who weren't. Analyses suggest that children from the program had:
- a 41% reduction in special education placement
- a 33% lower rate of juvenile arrest
- a 42% reduction in arrest for a violent offense [see report summary].
Non-profit group Fight Crime: Invest in Kids concluded, "Rigorous research shows that the two most effective approaches to help at-risk young children avoid lives of crime are high-quality early education and home visiting." [See report]
Private Prisons
The prison industry has grown. According to the BJA, there were 3,100 inmates housed in private prisons worldwide in 1987; by 1998, the number grew to 132,000. In 2001, there were 158 private prisons just in the U.S.
Private prison companies are no stranger to scandal, which can cost the taxpayers money--especially where lawsuits are involved. Some of the major private players are (or were):
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA): a publicly traded company that operates 65 detention facilities in the US with 72,000 beds. In 2005-06, CCA clashed with Hernando County, Florida officials over "issues ranging from inmate suicides to jail breaks to prisoners released in error," along with three inmate suicides and the arrest of a guard for stealing money from inmates.
GEO: a publicly traded company that operates I-don't-know how many prisons. This year, according to its investors' report, GEO made another public offering of stock to pay off $200 million in debt. In 2006-07, GEO was linked to scandals in Texas involving smuggling of goods into a GEO-run prison, neglect or abuse of prisoners, and an escape--prompting the warden to resign in May 2007.Cornell Company: a publicly traded company that operates 79 facilities in the U.S. with a capacity of 18,477. I haven't yet found scandal data.
Wackenhut: was America's second-largest prison operator but seems to have quit the prison industry after clashing with federal and state governments. For example, Texas terminated a contract for "chronic staff shortages before reports of alleged criminal activity -- sexual misconduct and abuse of prisoners, assaults, drug smuggling, and alleged cover ups."
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