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| OpEd: Crime down, prisons up? |
| By The Baltimore Sun |
| Published: 01/15/2009 |
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MARYLAND - The Justice Policy Institute in Washington, one of the few organizations that keeps an independent eye on law enforcement and corrections policy in the United States, wonders why, with violent crime dropping, state budgets for new prison space keep expanding. (Off the top of my head, I'd say it was the war on drugs to blame; I might be wrong, but I doubt it.) The JPI noted this week that violent crime in the United States fell by 3.5 percent and property crimes by 2.5 percent in the first half of 2008. "The analysis, which is based on the FBI Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, finds that this drop in crime came at a time when state corrections spending continued to grow, although at a lower rate than the previous year, and when the prison and jail rates also continued to grow, also at lower rates than in previous years," the JPI's newest report said. As the growth rate of prisons and jails has slowed, the violent crime rate declined as well, down 1.4 percent from 2006 to 2007. "The drop in violent crime is good news for public safety," said JPI Executive Director Tracy Velázquez. "The question policymakers must answer is why prison and jail growth continues despite drops in violent crime. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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