Jailhouse nation


Bars and stripes

Advocates of tough justice point out that America’s crime rate has fallen as the incarceration rate has risen. Criminals who are locked up cannot mug law-abiding citizens, and the prospect of going to prison must surely deter some from breaking the law in the first place. All this is true, but only up to a point. In the 1980s expanding prisons probably did help slow the rise of crime by taking thugs off the streets. But mass incarceration has long since become counter-productive (see article). A recent study by the Brennan Centre for Justice, a think-tank, concluded that at most only 12% of the reduction in America’s property crime rates since the 1990s can be attributed to higher rates of imprisonment—and that there might be no effect at all. States with larger prison populations have no less crime than states with smaller ones.







Reform is hard. Prosecutors and judges are often elected in America; many woo votes by promising to be tougher than their predecessors. Politicians who are seen to be soft on crime run a risk. One reason Michael Dukakis was never president was that a murderer called Willie Horton, who was released on furlough while Mr Dukakis was governor of Massachusetts, took the opportunity to rape someone.

Swift and sure justice, but less harsh


FUENTE: The Economist




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