In prosperous times, state and federal lawmakers wanting to polish their get-tough-on-crime image pass bills putting more people in prison and keeping them longer for offenses such as drunken driving, drug possession and dog fighting.
When the economy tanks, those mandatory sentencing laws stay in place, and budget cuts instead dig into drug treatment and job-training programs.
It's no mystery, then, why prison populations are growing while recidivism rates remain obstinately high. The cycle continues this year, with the shuttering of day-reporting centers in Norfolk, Suffolk and nine other locations in Virginia. Worse, behavioral service staff is being reduced, and community programs are being cut in the juvenile justice system, forcing more youth into detention centers. Similar cuts are being implemented in other states faced with deficits.
At both the federal and state levels, the corrections system is as aimless and hopeless as the 2.3 million men and women living behind bars. The incarceration rate in the United States, now exceeding 1 in 100 adults, is the highest in the world, according to the Pew Center on the States. Governments have busied themselves in the past two decades constructing 1 million new prison cells and rolling out miles of razor wire, but amid the frenzy they have forgotten the point of incarceration.
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb recognizes the need to refocus and re-evaluate the goals of the criminal justice system. He plans to introduce legislation this spring establishing a national panel tasked with recommending reforms. His proposal deserves the support of his colleagues in Congress.
Webb has no desire to pare back the correctional system's primary function, to protect the public from serious, violent and chronic criminals. But he also understands the need to find more humane and cost-effective methods for dealing with less dangerous offenders.
Although he wants national experts to have a hand in drafting comprehensive reforms, Webb has revealed some of his own ideas. He supports drug courts, in which offenders participate in weekly meetings with judges, drug treatment, group therapy, mental health counseling and parenting classes as an alternative to incarceration. There are 15 drug courts in Virginia, but the state funds only a fraction. Webb also criticizes laws that make it difficult for felons to regain their citizenship rights once they complete their sentences.
More broadly, the panel should look at performance-based funding for state and local programs that can demonstrate success through low recidivism rates, successful job placements, effective drug treatment and victim-restitution collections.
The convoluted criminal justice system that now exists is the product of years of incremental and disconnected actions. Only a holistic approach will clean up the mess. It's not a project that promises high popularity ratings, but fortunately, Webb appears less concerned with polls than he is with fixing problems.
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some thoughts
Punishment is one thing and can be done in any number of ways. Yes, I guess there is a need for ditch digging, but there is also a need for keeping our beaches and waterways clean. Prisioners that are allowed out to do these jobs should be required to do it in dead SILENCE with no communicate between them. Group therapy should be a daily activity, some will need substance abuse groups, others mone intense treatment, but it should be done daily.
As I see it, criminals who will be released need to be released as better citizens then when they were arrested, with the objective being that they not get arrested again. Some of you won't think this is punishment. My suggestion to you is to try daily group therapy and see how well you like it. Others will say they don't need group therapy. Trust me, EVERYONE could use group therapy for one reason or another.
dukedr
you believe an "eye for an eye", is the way to go? Not only are you condemning those who wish to improve upon themselves, when released, you totally ignore the percentage of prisoners serving terms for crimes they never committed in the 1st place. There have been hundreds of situations in which innocent persons were convicted & served long terms, only to be released after a higher court allowed DNA or new evidence to be heard. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Perhaps you should consider that as a new outlook. Byif, I'm ex leo, from a family of attorneys, judges, criminologists, social workers & psychologists.
Incarceration!
Most studies show 12-15% of the prison population suffer from serious mental illnesses. Still more have low IQ's and emotional challenges. Do these folks belong being incarcerated with hardened criminals? Obviously the answer is NO; but, in these economic times most people couldn't care less as long as they are tucked away out of sight and out of mind.
I am for punishing the person that did the crime
The people to blame for crime are each and every one that believes it ok to fail… its ok if you don’t do well we will take care of you. Face it we have created the problem now we must take stern measures’ to fix it.
Some people say the parents are to blame for their child’s crimes not for the crime yes for the inability to determine right from wrong. If you failed your child live with it and make sure you don’t do it again.
I am sorry but the world needs ditch diggers and well if the shoe or chain fits wear it
This about what happens after release
I've been the victim of burglary. The vile scum has never been caught, and I curse him every time I remember one of the many items stolen from our family. But I have to admit, if he were caught, once he did his time, I'd much prefer he were able to build a better life for himself, in an honorable way than for him to be constantly kicked to the curb until he reverted to crime for a living. It's as though we're telling them, "Don't bother trying to improve yourself, we'd like you to continue being a thug until you do something heinous enough to either be incarcerated for life, or get the chair.” Too bad for all the innocent people who will suffer while they hone their criminal skills.
Honestly, once you've punished your child for stealing a candy bar from the store, do you call her a thief for the rest of her life, and refuse her redemption? How is that good for her? How does that strengthen your family?
I think you are forgetting something
Prisioners will be released. If all they have learned is how to be a better criminal than the best interest of safety and society has NOT been served. Working on a chain gang or punished by taking away such things as air condition only re-inforce the anger that occured when they were put in prison in the first place. That way of thinking does nothing to hekp that person re-enter society as a better human being. Statics will show that the majority of prisioners released without intervention during their prison life will return to prison within a year after being released. The cycle needs to be broken!
Prison is Punishment
Prison is Punishment not class time. You do a crime you pay for it with time not attending some Air conditioned classroom activities. Put them on the old chain gang fixing the roads and byways. Could help with the defect in the state budget. Work them on a farm producing their own food cut cost that way. Webb is wrong they should leave prison never wanting to return because of how rough it is not as some say I don’t mine prison I can sleep and enjoy free food.
Prison
Prison is supposed to be unpleasant. The goal of prison should be to punish people who break the law and to keep them away from the rest of us who follow the rules to keep us and our property safe.
the goal of a prison
The goal of a prison should not be to teach prisoners how to be better criminals. I'm in full agreement with Webb, we need to be teaching prisioners how to be better citizens.
Felons
Most criminals don't re-enter society as lawful citizens. Don't fool yourself. They go on to commit bigger and more horrific crimes. The Op Ed staff is very liberal and see these criminals as having the potential to be "good Citizens" when in fact EVERY statistic proves them wrong.
Reduced harm policies.
Reduced harm policies are essential when the so called cure is more destructive than the disease.
Not everyone who's served time in jail is a "Thug"
Restoring a felon's citizenship is all well and good, but until their ability to obtain gainful employment is addressed, their recidivism rate will continue to climb. The felon coming out of prison has to find a place to live where nobody wants a felon to live, and a place to work where nobody wants a felon to work. Jobs that are available often pay too little and do not have benefits; so they have no health insurance, and live at or below the poverty line. So we still pay their way through welfare, and higher health care costs. Not all felons are "thugs". Some really do get a wake up call in prison, and have no intention of ever going back, but they are relegated to the fringes of a society that is unwilling to forgive even though the debt has been paid, and their efforts to live honestly are rarely rewarded.
fruitless
Even when criminals are rehabilitated hypocritical Americans refuse to grant them the second chance that they earned. "Paid your debt to society" is a catchy phrase as long as you're not a convicted felon looking for meaningful work. Unless we change our collective attitude, programs designed to introduce former inmates back into productive society are a waste.
Even So
Isn't it funny how on one hand how the editorial board can decry the acts of repeat-offender drunk drivers who kill innocent people and then decry sending them to prison on the other? Is it the Pilot's position that someone with their third, fourth or more convictions serve no jail time at all? I can see a suspended sentence on the FIRST offense, but after two, three or more times fines and suspensions aren't getting the message across and the public NEEDS to be protected. And what about dog fighting or drug offenders? Would anyone on the editorial board like to have these thugs move into a house in your neighborhood? What about Mr. Webb? I think that anyone who advocates early release and less jail time should be willing to have those people move into their own neighborhood before allowing them back on the street.