February 16, 2010 08:15 AM
Webber: Getting Smart on Crime
Chief Justice William Ray Price’sState of the Judiciary address to the Missouri General Assembly on February 3 is well-worth reading. While it mentioned the standard judicial concerns of caseloads, compensation, and the need for better information technology for court administration, Price focused on criminal justice problems that many policy-makers would rather not think about: prison population costs and the public defender system. While merely raising these issues is commendable because it gives these problems more attention, his forthright manner and clear reasoning should be a model for all policy-makers.
Price asserts "we have been tough on crime, but not smart on crime" because of the "overincarceration of nonviolent offenders and the mishandling of drug and alcohol offenses." Missouri has twice the number of nonviolent offenders in prison than in it did in 1994. The number of new inmates in 1994 was 4,857; in 2009 it was 7,220. The cost per inmate is now $16,456 per year or about $45.00 per day. The total appropriation to the Department of Corrections in 1994 was $216 million now it is over $670 million—an increase of over 300 percent Worse yet, Missouri’s recidivism rate is 41.4 percent within two years.
Price is also concerned with inconsistencies in sentencing across the state’s judicial circuits. The average sentence for the lowest sentencing circuit is 4.5 years and for the highest circuit is 9 years.
The Chief Justice shares the same opinion that most citizens have about crime—violent, dangerous criminals need to be incarcerated—but he doubts the effectiveness of locking up first-time offending drug and alcohol addicts. Price states boldly: "We also know that simple incarceration, no matter how expensive, does not cure addiction. Treatment with strict judicial oversight does."
Price champions drug courts, DWI courts and better sentencing as solutions, arguing we need to move from "anger-based sentencing" to "evidence-based sentencing." Courts have access to improved analysis intended to increase the effectiveness of sentencing. Price argues that drug courts costs less than incarceration, that more than half of participants graduate, and that recidivism for those graduates is about 10 percent. Price concludes that recent social science research finds that drug courts have reduced crime by between 8 to 26 percent.
Perhaps Price’s concerns will increase attention on bills currently before them.Senate bill SB880 and SB836 deal with expanding drug and DWI courts.
As Price argued, politics has steered us toward unreasonable and expensive criminal justice practices. An era of "lock them up and throw away the key" and political candidates fearing they would be painted as being "soft on crime" pushed us in the wrong direction. Rather than increasing sentencing we should focus on reducing recidivism—the goal should be safe communities where people who violate the law learn not to do it again.
Reducing recidivism—especially in an era of tight governmental budgets—makes sense. The federal Second Chance Act of 2007 currently funds small demonstrations projects that aim to cut recidivism in half within five years.
Managing offender re-entry into society is difficult under the best of conditions because of inmates’ lack of housing, transportation, job skills and social networks. But attending to these obstacles have the potential of preventing recidivism; restoring families and reducing next generation crime. Groups like the Kansas City Crime Commission have independently realized that it is far better to teach inmates not to go back to jail than it is to house them at public expense. They have created Second Chance programs to find better ways for communities to meet these needs.
Price indicates he understands the realities of political life when he said, "In my time on the Court, I have seen how hard your life is here in the legislature. I understand the pressures you bear to keep your base, the pressures from special interest groups, the pressures to raise thousands of dollars to fund your campaign, or move up in leadership." He urges legislators to make better policy decisions despite the very difficult political environment.
Research agrees with Price’s observations on the effectiveness of alternative sentencing and the costliness of incarceration. More legislators, journalists and citizens should read Chief Justice Price’s address and see if they agree.
David Webber is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri, Columbia specializing in American public policy, federalism and state legislatures. His column appears every Tuesday.
Politics has steered us toward unreasonable and expensive criminal justice practices. An era of "lock them up and throw away the key" and political candidates fearing they would be painted as being "soft on crime" pushed us in the wrong direction. Rather than increasing sentencing we should focus on reducing recidivism.
