NY Times: Inmate Count In U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations'
NY Times article shedding more attention to our out-of-control criminal justice system. However, the interesting sidenote to this article is the number of experts who apparently claim that our punitiveness has been succesful in reducing violent crime. Their perspective is begging the question, though, whether incarceration prevents violent crime solely in the sense of specific deterrence while incarcerated, or on the overall -- viz. does it reduce recidivism? does it cause more violent crime among future generations (by incarcerating their Fathers, for example)?
Choice Excerpt:
"People who commit nonviolent crimes in the rest of the world are less likely to receive prison time and certainly less likely to receive long sentences. The United States is, for instance, the only advanced country that incarcerates people for minor property crimes like passing bad checks, Mr. Whitman wrote. Efforts to combat illegal drugs play a major role in explaining long prison sentences in the United States as well. In 1980, there were about 40,000 people in American jails and prisons for drug crimes. These days, there are almost 500,000. Those figures have drawn contempt from European critics. “The U.S. pursues the war on drugs with an ignorant fanaticism,†said Ms. Stern of King’s College.
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