With another Tax Day recently passed, Americans are once again reminded of the monetary costs needed to maintain an ordered society. We are also reminded that not all of the money collected for this purpose is used as effectively or as efficiently as it could be.
This is definitely true in the case of corrections in the United States.
In a recent editorial for the Huffington Post, Prison Fellowship Ministries President and CEO Jim Liske examines the huge amounts of dollars spent on incarceration in this country (over 50 billion in state expenditures, with another 6 billion in federal money), looks at the effectiveness of that spending, and asks the question, “Can’t we, as a civilized society, find a better use of tax dollars?”
Spending money on corrections is unavoidable; there will always be people who need to be locked up for the safety of the entire community. But the current situation in our country is extreme and unprecedented in our history. With 2.3 million people behind bars, we have become the world’s largest jailer, at an ever-growing, unsustainable financial cost. In California, for example, corrections spending grew at four times the rate of general fund spending between 1980 and 2010. California’s situation reflects national trends – across the board, we’ve been determined to keep “bad” people out of our backyards by locking them up for longer periods. But the tough on crime argument has a blind side. We haven’t bothered asking ourselves how prisoners will be rehabilitated and re-integrated into society when they come back. As a result, the return on taxpayers’ investment has been poor. Two-thirds of the approximately 700,000 prisoners released each year will be re-arrested within three years. That means more crimes – and more victims.
The answer, Liske proposes, is to invest in restorative justice programs for non-violent offenders, to take steps to strengthen families, and to develop preventative measures designed to keep at-risk individuals from becoming criminals in the first place. The result will not only be measurable in tax dollars saved, but also in safer communities and transformed lives.
To read the full editorial, click here.