NCJ Number
166463
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 58 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1996) Pages: 74,76,78
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
In basing corrections policies in voter appeal rather than sound research, politicians have focused on imprisonment as the most expensive and least effective strategy for countering crime, usually at the expense of an investment in less costly comprehensive prevention strategies that research has shown to be effective in reducing crime.
Abstract
Corrections leaders must use their political clout in cooperation with community organizations to ensure that research and reason replace emotion-based sound bites as the basis for crime policy. There is no instance in which vote-getting slogans and simple-minded rhetoric has had more influence on policy-making than with the recently passed Federal crime bill. The 1994 Crime Bill has a number of vote-getting, expensive, do-nothing provisions. These include massive prison expansion and incentives to abolish parole, 66 new death penalties, "three strikes and you're out," and the treatment of 13-year-olds as adults in the Federal system. The most promising part of the bill, the 100,000 community police officers and the prevention funds, are under attack. As part of the Contract with America, the majority in the House has already voted to take $2.5 billion from prevention and police to build more prisons. Obviously, not all crime can be prevented, but there are proven reduction strategies that deserve support. Research has shown that drug treatment can reduce recidivism by 60 percent; participants in Head Start have lower crime and teenage pregnancy rates and are more likely to graduate from high school than those without Head Start exposure; and Job Corps participants are one-third less likely to be arrested than nonparticipants. These programs not only reduce crime, they also save money.