NCJ Number
157027
Journal
Evaluation and Program Planning Volume: 17 Issue: 2 Dated: (April-June 1994) Pages: 165-177
Date Published
1994
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This paper attempts to determine whether California's massive investment in crime control over the past two decades has had any effect on the State's crime rate, particularly violent crime.
Abstract
The author reviews California's crime and victimization data, imprisonment rates, and criminal justice expenditures over the past two decades. The data suggest that the massive investment in crime control, and the doubling and redoubling of the prison population in recent years, may have little effect on California's crime rate, particularly on violent crime. Additional investments are also unlikely to significantly reduce crime because the criminal justice system may have little impact on the amount of crime experienced in local communities. The article discusses: (1) the relationship between crime and imprisonment; (2) why expanded imprisonment has not reduced crime and why it is unlikely to do so in the future; (3) the costs of justice; (4) whether the investment in prisons has made society any safer; and (5) what policy options hold promise for addressing the crime problem more directly. References