WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One in every 31 U.S. adults is in the corrections system, which includes jail, prison, probation and supervision, more than double the rate of a quarter century ago, according to a report released on Monday by the Pew Center on the States.The article argues for more probation and parole, and these may be workable ideas.
[...] "Violent and career criminals need to be locked up, and for a long time. But our research shows that prisons are housing too many people who can be managed safely and held accountable in the community at far lower cost," said Adam Gelb, director of the Center's Public Safety Performance Project, which produced the report.
[...] During the last 25 years prison and jail populations have grown 274 percent to 2.3 million in 2008, according to the Pew research, while those under supervision grew 226 percent over the same span to 5.1 million.
It estimated states spent a record $51.7 billion on corrections in fiscal year 2008 and incarcerating one inmate cost them, on average, $29,000
But why not end the failed war on drugs? Especially marijuana:
If legalized and taxed at a reasonable rate, the weed in this bust alone could pay all those salaries for a year plus prison costs. [And that's not taking into account the lost productivity of being jailed for 5 years.]
Under prohibition there is no revenue and these salaries and prison costs are paid from your local taxes.
And it's all part of a failed effort to ban a substance whose effects are much less serious then alcohol or tobacco and roughly comparable to drinking coffee.
Silver lining of the recession: people should finally wake up to these facts, as they did against alcohol prohibition during the Great Depression.
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