Regional Jails a Bad Solution to Overcrowding
There is simply no reason that tax payers should spend one dime to incarcerate non-violent offenders because it does not lead to an increase in public safety.
I’ve largely stayed away from issues other than growth and development since those are my bread and butter, however, historically crime has been at the forefront of urban policy. The reason it isn’t at the forefront of anything today is that violent crime, already exceedingly rare, has been dropping for 20 years. The amazing thing about that is that it has little to do with better policing, more cops on the street, mandatory minimums, and the like. But those are discussions for a later day.
What we need to understand is that “criminal justice” policy is crippling our cities, counties, regions, state, nation, and world. I wanted to make sure to get all those levels of government in there because poor criminal justice policy, I believe, is increasingly the most important issue that we as a collective global society face. Our criminal justice policies, at all levels, are simply as unsustainable as many other government policies and programs, they just don’t get the same attention.
A local case in point: the failed Canyon County jail bond, and new calls for a regional jail.
This is a terrible idea.
Look: if the current jail is now at capacity (it is), how long will it be before a regional jail is at capacity? The Ada County jail is projected to be at capacity by 2014. Should we just continue to build more and bigger jails, and create more and more specialized courts (we already have drug courts, now some are talking about alcohol courts)? This is a prescription for disaster - it cannot be financially sustained.
The figures for Idaho, I do not have at hand, but they probably mirror figures in the State of Oregon that show that from 1989 - 2007, higher ed funding has declined 44% while spending on the criminal justice system has increased 50%! 50%! Soon, we’ll be “safe” from all the petty shop lifters and weed smokers, but we won’t be able to get our kids through college. We simply cannot afford to continue increasing spending at this level.
And who is this that we are protecting ourselves from? It isn’t dangerous criminals. In fact, only 12% of the offenders housed in Canyon County committed either a violent crime (rape, mayhem, battery), or a property crime (burglary, theft). No, the vast majority of those incarcerated in the state of Idaho are drug and alcohol - NON VIOLENT offenders and simple misdemeanants. This is a travesty.
It is high time that we address the root cause of jail overcrowding - stupid criminal justice policies that DO NOT lead to increases in public safety.
Tags: criminal justice, jails
Government | admin December 4, 2009
