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That's quite a pessimistic view. But if you genuinely believe some will in fact commit crime again and therefore add costs to the legal system, would those cost
by hellofunk 11y ago
That's quite a pessimistic view. But if you genuinely believe some will in fact commit crime again and therefore add costs to the legal system, would those costs still be more than the taxpayer cost of room and board in a prison for 2 months?
And if, say, 10% were repeat offenders, how does this factor into the true "costs" of the legal system dealing with them, vs. the 90% who saved taxes by getting released early?
I think you'd be surprised just how much of a tax burden keeping people in prison truly is. And I think for many crimes, the odds of one of these released inmates committing crime again is much lower than you suggest. And even if they do commit a crime, that 55 days early release is going to make much difference.
- DanBC 11y ago> And if, say, 10% were repeat offenders http://www.bjs.gov/content/reentry/recidivism.cfm http://www.bjs.gov/content/reentry/recidivism.cfm > > The most recent BJS recidivism study estimated the recidivism patterns of about 400,000 persons released from state prisons in 30 states in 2005. [...] > > In a 15 State study, over two-thirds of released prisoners were rearrested within three years US prisons don't work.
- Uhhrrr 11y agoThey work great - very few non-released prisoners were rearrested within that three year period.
- TeMPOraL 11y agoI want to read the story of those non-released prisoners who were rearrested.
- DanBC 11y agohttp://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/02/prisons-and-crime http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/02/pr...
- DanBC 11y agoI'm a bit confused about the downvotes for this comment. Parent wants to know about people in prison being arrested. I provide a link that gives information about the crimes committed by people in prison. > Uncounted in the official tallies are the hundreds of thousands of crimes that take place in the country's prison system, a vast and growing residential network whose forsaken tenants increasingly bear the brunt of America's propensity for anger and violence.
- DanBC 11y agoHo ho, but you forget that some prisoners continue to commit crime while in prison. The US doesn't bother to collect accurate statistics on that - they've only just last year started gathering data on rape inside prison.
- deftnerd 11y agoInterestingly enough, it appears that the statistics are calculated badly (hopefully not on purpose) A recent peer reviewed study shows that just 1/3rd of offenders ever go back to prison, and 11% of offenders go back to prison more than twice. THat's far lower than we've been told. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2015/10/why_do_so_many_prisoners_end_up_back_in_prison_a_new_study_says_maybe_they.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2015/1...
- blfr 11y agoI mentioned the legal cost separately because the largest and primary cost comes from the crimes themselves: the damage a criminal does directly (stolen goods, destroyed property, injured people) and indirectly (lowered trust in society, trauma). Can a criminal lead to more than $30k (low end) or $100k (higher end) damage in a year? Easily. That's one drunk driver causing a single accident where someone gets hurt. Wile it's partially because legal, incarceration, and healthcare costs are bordering on obscene in the US, I'd bet (moral issues aside) that it's still a good trade-off to keep people prone to crime in prison.