Crime & Punishment
Crime --n. a violation of a law in which there is injury to the public or a member of the
public and a term in jail or prison, and/or a fine as possible penalties. There is some
sentiment for excluding from the "crime" category crimes without victims, such as
consensual acts, or violations in which only the perpetrator is hurt or involved such as
personal use of illegal drugs.
Punishment - Some pain or penalty warranted by law, inflicted on a person, for the
commission of a crime or misdemeanor, or for the omission of the performance of an act
required by law, by the judgment and command of some lawful court.
Myths and Facts
-Myth: Violent crime is going down. Despite recent dips in the overall crime rate,
violent crime rates remain at historic highs, and more than 10 million violent crimes were
committed in 1993.
-Myth: The threat of violent crime is exaggerated. An American is more than
twice as likely to be a violent crime victim as to be injured in a car accident, and as likely
to be murdered as to die from AIDS.
-Myth: Most violent crimes against whites are committed by blacks. In 1993, only
18 percent of the 8.7 million violent crimes against whites were committed by blacks,
while about 80 percent of the 1.3 million violent crimes against blacks were by blacks.
-Myth: Revolving door justice is rare. Barely one criminal is imprisoned for every
100 violent crimes, and about one in three violent crimes is committed by someone on
probation, parole or pretrial release.
-Myth: Prisons are full of first-time drug offenders. Since 1974 more than 90
percent of all state prisoners have been violent or repeat offenders. Between 1980 and
1993, the number in state prisons for violent crimes grew by 221,000, 1.3 times the
growth in imprisoned drug offenders (most of whom have long criminal histories).
-Myth: Persons on probation and parole pose little threat. In 1991, 45 percent of
state prisoners were on probation or parole at the very time they committed their latest
crimes, and while free, they committed at least 218,000 violent crimes, including 13,200
murders and 11,600 rapes.
-Myth: Because of mandatory sentencing, most prisoners now do long, hard time.
Despite mandatory laws, between 1985 and 1992, the average maximum sentence
declined about 15 percent, from 78 months to 67 months, and in 1992, the actual time
served by violent felons was 43 months.
-Myth: More violent juvenile felons are being handled like adults. In 1991, about
51,000 male juveniles were held in public juvenile facilities, a third of them for violent
crimes. However, in 1992 alone there were over 110,000 juvenile arrests for violent
crimes.
Source: John J. DiIulio Jr. (Manhattan Institute), "Ten Truths About Crime," Weekly
Standard, January 15, 1996.
Statistical Breakdown
Costs of Imprisonment
- It costs about $1 million to house a prisoner sentenced to life behind bars
- There are about 1.36 million people incarcerated in federal and state prisons, and
one in eleven are surfing life terms
- Costs an average of $60,000 per year to house inmates over the age of 50
(Louisiana), costs area even higher in a state with higher wages for staff and personnel.
- For a geriatric inmate, estimates are $69,000/year
- California sends prisoners needing hospital care out to community health
facilities for treatment, average costs is $25,000 for inmate over 55, and $14,000 for a
younger sick prisoner
Privately Owned Prisons vs. State Prisons
- According to the Department of Corrections figures, each year it costs
Californians $28,439 to house an inmate in a state prison. Privately run prisons do the job
for about $17,000, an $11,000 savings per inmate. In a state with the largest prison
population in America, that means hefty savings to the taxpayers.
Advocates of privately run prisons argue that they are not only cheaper but better run and
subject to greater accountability than their government counterparts. Maybe that's why
Arizona has just agreed to expand its private capacity. But an even better comparison for
California is Texas, where the competitive pressures from private prisons have helped
keep overall costs down. Though the Texas inmate population is roughly the same as
California--145,000 for Texas versus 162,000--the total Texas corrections budget clocks
in at $2.5 billion, less than half that of California's.
California prisons are already running at 198% of capacity. Surely instead of closing
private prisons, a smart new California governor would contract out for more of them.
Medicine for the Incarcerated
- Inmates are the only people guaranteed health care.
-Should a killer in a Minnesota prison have received a life-saving, $900,000 bone
marrow transplant? Should a California robber have received a new heart in January?
Both states said yes, because "no" would violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and
unusual punishment, but the rate of growth, 2.1%, continued a downward trend from
6.7% in 1995, suggesting that fewer new inmates are entering prison, but those who are
there are serving longer sentences and failing to win early release. The result is a prison
population that is more middle-aged than ever.
Prison Population Demigraphics
-Nearly 30% of prisoners are ages 40-54, according to the bureau's annual survey
of prisoners. Since 1995, middle-aged prisoners have accounted for nearly half the growth
in U.S. prisons.
The survey also found:
-* Since 1995, the federal prison population has grown an average of 7.7% a year,
compared with 3.3% for the state prison population.
-In 1993, 2,280 prisoners were older than 55 (in California). By 1998, the
number nearly doubled.
-* Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama had the highest rates of
incarceration by population, each with more than 635 prisoners per 100,000 residents.
The U.S. average was 482 prisoners per 100,000 residents.
-* The female prison population has increased far more rapidly than the male
population. There were about 101,000 women in state or federal custody last year, up
nearly 50% since 1995. Texas, California and the federal prison system accounted for
nearly one-third of all female inmates.
-* Prisoners under the control of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, a merger of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and other agencies,
grew 12% in 2003, to nearly 24,000.
-* The racial composition of America's prisons remained relatively unchanged. As
of Dec. 31, 2003, about 44% of all inmates were black, 35% were white and 19% were
Hispanic. Nationally, about 9% of all black males ages 25-29 were in prison, compared
with nearly 3% of Hispanic males and 1% of white males.
Critics Arguments
-Critics of U.S. incarceration policies said that the rising prison population,
combined with falling crime rates, argues for less costly alternatives to prison sentences.
Both prisoner advocates and pro-law enforcement groups say the growth in federal
prisoners is the result of the Bush administration's policy of aggressively enforcing
federal drug laws.
"Half the prison population (is) now serving time for a non-violent offense, and (there is)
an aging prison population," said Marc Mauer, assistant director of the Washington, D.C.based Sentencing Project. "The cost of incarceration now threatens the vitality of higher
education and other vital services."
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/ is where all those tables are, I'm not sure if you
want to do anything with it, but there it is.
Opportunity Costs of Crime
Rational Criminals and Opportunity Costs
- About 25 years ago, economists began developing a new model of criminal
activity. The major breakthrough was the work of Gary Becker, a University of Chicago
economist and now a Nobel laureate. In Becker's model, criminals are rational individuals
acting in their own self interest. In deciding to commit a crime, criminals weigh the
expected costs against the expected benefits. The "cost" of crime to criminals consists of
two parts.
- One is the income foregone by devoting time to criminal activity-the so-called
opportunity cost. Foregone wages are the opportunity cost of choosing illegitimate work
over legitimate work. . For most criminals this opportunity cost is very small. They
usually are unskilled and uneducated. Legal alternatives usually don't pay as well.
- The net return per offense must exceed some level before the individual will
undertake it, depending on each person’s risk preference. Some individuals may gain
more utility from work in illegal areas than legal areas, so the point where these
individuals turn to crime is lower. Other individuals may experience a disutility resulting
from the illegal activity. These individuals would typically demand a higher net return
before getting involved in crime
- The second, and far larger, cost is the time criminals expect to be incarcerated
because of their activity. "Expected punishment" is not the same as the length of time a
convicted criminal actually spends in prison. Most crimes never result in an arrest. Many
of those arrested aren't prosecuted. Many convicts are paroled. Expected punishment,
from the criminal's viewpoint, is a probability, not a certainty.
-Take burglary. Only 7 percent of U.S. burglaries result in an arrest according to
the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). Of those arrested, 87 percent are
prosecuted. Of those prosecuted, 79 percent are convicted. Of those convicted, a mere 25
percent are sent to prison. Most are paroled. After multiplying these probabilities, we see
that a potential burglar faces only a 1.2 percent chance of going to prison for each act of
burglary committed. Once in prison, he will stay there for about 13 months. But since he
will escape imprisonment more than 98 percent of the time, the expected "cost" of each
burglary to the burglar is only 4.8 days.
The rational criminal will ask himself whether an act of burglary is likely to net him
goods worth more than 4.8 days behind bars. If the answer is yes, then his crime pays.
The bottom line for criminals is that crime is profitable. If crime wasn't profitable then it
would cease to exist.
http://www.libertyhaven.com/politicsandcurrentevents/crimeandterrorism/ecocrime.shtml
- Unemployment could be taken to influence the opportunity cost of
illegal activity. A high unemployment rate suggests that there are fewer legal employment
opportunities available and thus the opportunity cost of choosing crime over legitimate
work is low
http://titan.iwu.edu/~econ/ppe/2003/mattmelick.pdf
Society’s Opportunity Costs of Crime
- David Anderson's research published in the Journal of Law and Economics takes
into account all costs which would not exist in an ideal society totally free of crime. That
includes the cost of private preventative measures such as locks, safety lighting, alarm
systems, fencing and private security guards. In addition it calculates the cost of crimerelated injuries and deaths, including medical care, lost workdays, pain, and fear, and the
opportunity costs of time spent preventing, carrying out and serving prison terms for
criminal activity.
He breaks crime costs down into four major categories.
- "Crime-induced production" costs about $400 billion per year. That includes
products and activities that do not contribute to society except in their association with
crime. Think of all the money spent on locks and safes ($4 billion), police protection (47
billion), surveillance cameras (1.4 billion), jails (35 billion), computer virus screening
and security (8 billion), airport security (448 million), and even guard dogs (49 million).
The biggest part of this production comes from drug trafficking ($160 billion). A crimefree society would mean that we would not need federal agencies to fight crime (23
billion) and we would not need the medical care to treat the victims of crime (8.9 billion)
or children born with exposure to cocaine and heroine (28 billion). In the absence of
crime, the time, money and material resources absorbed by the provision of these goods
and services could be used for the creation of benefits rather than the avoidance of harm.
The total of these and other sub-categories adds up to over $397 billion annually.
http://www.argmax.com/mt_blog/archive/000260.php
-How much time do you spend locking and unlocking your home, office, car, and
gym locker each and every day? Anderson suggests that 2 minutes a day is a reasonable
estimate for the average time spent per person per day, and that people spend on average
another 2 minutes looking for their keys (based on a survey and by direct observation).
So, 4 minutes a day in total is wasted because we fear leaving our possessions unlocked.
This may not seem to be much until you consider that there are 365 days a year and
around 200 million adults in the country. Multiply this by the hourly value of your time,
and this gives a whopping $89.6 billion cost in lost time simply from locking and
unlocking!
- "Opportunity Costs" represent lost productivity due to people's incarceration or
criminal activity. If they were engaged in legal pursuits, their activity would benefit
society instead. In addition, if there were no crime, there would be no criminals. Instead
of working or sitting idle in jails, these people - over 1 million of them - could be
productive members of the economy, Anderson estimates that each incarcerated inmate in
the US represents $23,286 in lost productivity per year so chalk up another $35 billion.
- Also, there is much time lost in planning and executing crimes - 4.1 billion
worth. Then add to that the value of work time lost by victims (876 million) and the time
spent securing assets, purchasing and installing crime prevention devices such as airport
and library security systems, and patrolling neighborhood watch areas.
- The grand total for lost time comes to $130 billion.
http://www.argmax.com/mt_blog/archive/000260.php
- "The Value of Risks to Life and Health" is a difficult cost to ascertain,
representing the fear of being injured or killed, the anger associated with the inability to
behave as desired, and the agony of being a crime victim. Anderson calculated that the
72,111 crime-related deaths cost society $440 billion annually, and the 2.5 million
injuries from drunk driving, arson, rape, robbery and assault cost $135 billion a year.
Crime victims suffer trauma, depression, and fear that inevitably affect their ability to
work and help others. These problems can last a lifetime. Though not included in his
study, the total costs to crime victims could easily reach $250 billion to $500 billion each
year.
http://www2.davidson.edu/news/news_archives/archives99/9910_anderson.html
- "Transfers" represent the losses to victims of theft and unlawful deception that
are balanced by gains to criminals who acquire the stolen goods or money. Included in
this category are fraud at work ($203 billion), unpaid taxes ($123 Billion), health
insurance fraud ($108 billion), auto theft ($8.9 billion) and many others. In case you were
wondering, coupon fraud racks up $912 million annually.
- But should we count this as a cost of crime? It simply represents money (or
property) moving from the hands of one person to the next - your loss is my gain, and so
the net cost may be zero. However, there are also significant resources devoted to
committing these crimes, and so there may be a loss.
In any case, the total comes to $603 billion.
http://www.argmax.com/mt_blog/archive/000260.php
- Additionally it mentions a $28 billion decrease in property values of real estate
and buildings that are cheaper than similar facilities because they are located in highcrime areas. The costs associated with living in the suburbs to avoid crime in the city
center are also discussed, since there are significant costs for activities such as
commuting and parking.
- The net loss of $1.1 trillion, which does not include the value of transfers from
victims to criminals as would result from theft or fraud, represents an annual per capita
burden of
$4,118.
http://www2.davidson.edu/news/news_archives/archives99/9910_anderson.html
Drugs and Crime
Are drug offenders our problem?
-Nearly one in four persons (23.7%) imprisoned in the United States is currently
imprisoned for a drug offense. The number of persons behind bars for drug offenses
(458,131) is roughly the same as the entire prison and jail population in 1980 (474,368).
There are 100,000 more persons imprisoned in America for drug offenses than all
prisoners in the European Union, even though the EU has 100 million more citizens than
the US. The cost of incarcerating over 458,000 prisoners for drug offenses now exceeds
$9 billion annually.
Poor Prescription: The Costs of Imprisoning Drug Offenders in the United States
http://www.cjcj.org/pubs/poor/ppexec.html
-Some criminologists -- even those who don't necessarily believe in
decriminalizing drugs -- believe nonviolent, first-time drug offenders should get reduced
sentences -- including a mix of fines and house confinement -- so as to direct resources
toward violent criminals and those who commit property crimes.
-Currently 21 percent of state prisoners nationally are serving time on drug
charges -- up from 8.6 percent in 1986.
-The proportion of drug offenders in the federal prison system is even higher -- 60
percent.
-Meanwhile the percentage of violent felons in prison has dropped from 54.6
percent to 46.5 over the same period.
Source: Perspective, "Crime's Cost," Investor's Business Daily, May 9, 1996.
http://www.ncpa.org/pi/crime/pdcrm/pdcrm11.html
Possible Alternatives
-In 1999, the New Mexico Corrections Department housed 5,127 inmates (not
including city and county jails). Eighty-seven percent of state inmates were diagnosed
with substance misuse disorders.
-The National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES) found that with
treatment, drug selling decreased by 78%, shoplifting declined by almost 82%, and
assaults declined by 78%. Furthermore, there was a 64% decrease in arrests for any crime,
and the percentage of people who largely supported themselves through illegal activity
dropped by nearly half, decreasing by 48%.
-A study by the RAND Corporation found that every additional dollar invested in
substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.46 in societal costs (crime, violence, loss of
productivity, etc.) The study also found that additional domestic law enforcement efforts
cost 15 times as much as treatment to achieve the same reduction in societal costs.
-The same study found that treatment is 10 times more cost effective than
interdiction in reducing the societal costs of cocaine. Also in regards to cocaine, the study
found
-In 1996, voters in Arizona passed an initiative providing that non-violent drug
offenders be sentenced to probation rather than prison. At the end of the first year of
implementation, Arizona's Supreme Court issued a report finding that Arizona taxpayers
had saved $2.6 million in one year and that 77.5 percent of drug possession probationers
who had received treatment tested negative for drug use after the program.
-In November of 2000, Californians overwhelmingly passed a voter initiative,
Proposition 36, which requires that first and second time non-violent drug offenders be
sentenced to probation instead of incarceration. Treatment is made available to those on
probation. According to the state Legislative Analyst's Office, it is estimated that the new
law will save the state $250 million a year in incarceration costs, save local governments
$40 million a year in operations costs, and will create a one-time savings of up to $550
million in prison construction costs.
Treatment vs. Incarceration Compiled by Drug Policy Alliance. 2002
http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/factsheets/treatment_v_incarceration_nm.cfm