A recently released study by the American Legislative Exchange Council trumpets the conclusion that crime rates decline as states aggressively begin throwing lawbreakers in prison.
Such an obvious deduction hardly seems worth the effort of a study. Logic would dictate that offenses disappear when offenders are shackled and removed from society. Carried to its natural extension, this argument no doubt could be used to show the crime rate disappearing entirely if everyone in the United States was locked away.Unfortunately, the study will become fodder for the popular but misguided notion that America's ills can be solved through more prisons and longer sentences.
On the other hand, the knee-jerk opponents of incarceration, such as the ACLU, also miss the point. Their inclination is to blame crime on poverty and the lack of opportunity, as if wealthy people in positions of power never commit offenses.
Everyone seems to be missing the point that crime rates and prison population figures are mere symptoms of a problem. The root causes of crime lie in the moral and ethical character of individuals.
The study compared crime and incarceration rates by state from 1960 to 1980, a time when states tended to be lenient with prison sentences, and from 1980 and 1992, a period when states sent record numbers of criminals to jail. Crime rates soared during the former period and leveled during the latter.
Utah is somewhat of an anomaly, although its rate of incarceration has jumped in recent years. The state ranks 45th when it comes to incarceration rates yet maintains a relatively low rate of crime.
Six of 10 states that experienced actual declines in crime between 1980 and 1992 were among the nation's leaders in the rate of prison population growth.
Naturally, states with crime problems would be better served by locking up troublemakers. Statistics show that about one-third of all crimes are committed by people on probation, parole or pretrial release for other crimes.
But one has trouble finding solace in the fact that the rate of violent crime has either held steady or declined only slightly during a period of record incarceration. The fact remains that the odds of becoming a victim went from 1 in 622 in 1960 to 1 in 132 in 1992.
Imprisonment isn't the answer to crime. It's simply an effective way to punish people who already have committed them. By no means should states reduce incarceration rates, but they shouldn't look to steel bars and heavy locks as the pathway to a safer society.
For that, America needs stronger families and a penal system that rehabilitates by instilling values and ethics that make people desire to contribute to society. Using that as a barometer, the nation seems to heading in the wrong direction.