> Years ago I read that something on the order of 85 percent of crimes were perpetrated by a tiny percentage of criminals. <
I wish I could remember the actual numbers, but I once read an article about the cost to imprison a career criminal. It was something like $150,000 a year. But the author was actually pro-prison. He noted that when free, such criminals cost society $300,000 each year.
(I’m just guessing at those numbers, but I think I’m in the ballpark.)
A few decades ago, it cost $145 per day to house criminals on average. Not sure what the cost is today though. It very like.y is way up there, 3specislly considering how much more cri inals try to game the system when in prison today.
When you sum up the costs to keep prisoners they are huge. You sometimes see prisoners pardoned because their medical costs would break the budget. New York and California used COVID as an excuse to lower the budget outlay. If it’s your budget it doesn’t matter that society pays an even bigger cost.