An Exchange on Crime and Punishment  Correspondence between
William J. Bennett and Charles Colson  Copyright (c) 1994 First
Things 40 (January 1994): 2-5.  I was surprised by Charles
Colson's criticism of my views ("Crime and the Cure of the
Soul," October 1993), and I must respond to him. Because Mr.
Colson is prominent in this debate, it is important to point out
where I think he is wrong, both in terms of policy and
philosophy.  Mr. Colson argues this "there is no relationship
between incarceration rates and crime rates" and that "we have
tried that [lock-'em-up] approach and it has failed." The
evidence, and many of America's leading crime experts, argue
otherwise. It is true that the number of people incarcerated is
at an all-time high. But the punishment rate for crime is near
an all-time low. Currently nearly three out of every four
convicted criminals are not incarcerated and fewer than one in
ten serious crimes results in imprisonment. In other words,
crime does pay for an awful lot of criminals righ