Penny-Wise on Crime (Thomas Sowell)

Creators Syndicate ^ | September 21, 2010 | Thomas Sowell

[Paladin2]

They need to include the costs to the general citizenry if they let the miscreants off easy.

[jazusamo]

*PING*
Thomas Sowell

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[Paladin2]

Sheriff Joe could consult with the various States to help them lower their prisoner carrying costs while concurrently supporting the rescue of mistreated dogs and cats. Win-Win.

[mewzilla]

BTW, there's a new edition of Basic Economics coming out in December...

Basic Economics 4th Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy

:)

[jazusamo]

Sheriff Joe can put them away for a darned sight less than $10,000 a year. LOL!

[jazusamo]

Thanks for posting!

[catman67]

Best answer is to implement Shria Law! Lose hand, leg or eye instead of incarceration. Very cheap to swing an axe or poke a sharp stick!

[Vigilanteman]

Libtards are also fond of raising the cost of a good old-fashioned hanging with endless appeals and other postponement tools.

Once the trap door is sprung and the perp is dancing on air, however, he provides no further revenue stream to the libtards in the legal industry.

[rockinqsranch]

Thanks for the ping jaz. It’s not a wonder the Left, the Liberals are pushing in some States to have criminals approved to vote....FOR THEM.

[catman67]

Sorry. Forgot the “/sarc” at the end!

[hosepipe]

I say pay some African country to house our prisoners..
If they escape well then.. they are in Africa... and at large non domestically..

[hosepipe]

If they serve their sentence well bring them home..

[jazusamo]

Yep, that’s one of the leftists big talking points now. They try to say the death penalty is too expensive, a life sentence is much cheaper. That’s bunk, but we should cut down the frivolous appeals process.

[GOPJ]

Why are we counting only the cost to the government of putting a criminal behind bars, but not the cost to the public of turning him loose?

I know it's wrong, but there are times I want to fall to the ground and worship Sowell...

[jazusamo]

Not a bad idea, the prisons could put in crocodile moats around them over there too. :-)

[jazusamo]

Dr. Sowell always gets to the meat of the matter.

[Wuli]

Amazing - the disconnect, in certain groups of people, with the incarceration rates (higher rates of sentencing and length of sentences) since the 1980s and 1990s, and the reduction in many different crime rate statistics - lock more of 'em up and keep 'em off the street longer.

In every sphere - many things cost what they cost. The government cannot "save money" on many of those things, but it can appear to do so by shifting part of the cost somewhere else.

If too many criminals are let back onto the street too soon, I imagine all the "savings" in direct tax supported expenditures for incarcerating criminals, and more, will be shifted to the cost of property and lives lost, higher local police administration costs and higher insurance premiums.

Either way we must PAY for fighting crime and the best approach is usually the most direct approach - do the maximum job we can up front.

There is only one area where "half measures" have proven useful, and that is in "juvenile justice" where active measures are sometimes taken to turn the first-time juvenile offender away from becoming a career criminal. They don't always work with every juvenile either, but they have a higher rate of success than they do with repeat adult offenders.

[BillM]

I wonder if Dr. Sowell is familiar with the life of Reuben Greenberg (retired police chief of Charleston SC)? His view of the role of police and the justice system was unbelievably effective. He looked at the costs of crime by adding in the cost of investigation, trial and incarceration. He pointed out that there is a small cadre of repeat offenders who will continue their criminal patterns whenever they are at large. The cost to track them down, build a case, and then go to trial where generally the state had to pay for the prosecution, the defense (public defender), the court room staff, the judge, and the the entire court system infrastructure is enormous.

He used to take victims and family of victims to EVERY parole hearing because it was cheaper to pay their way than to let the perps out to start over again.

[jazusamo]

Sounds to me like Reuben Greenberg has the right idea. Show the liberal factions of parole boards what the victims or their survivors go through.