To the Editor: “In a Safer Age, U.S. Rethinks Its ‘Tough on Crime’ System” (news analysis, front page, Jan. 14) doesn’t mention a crucial piece of the public safety puzzle: What constitutes safety? As the article notes, rates of crime have been falling in the United States, and abroad, for decades. The reasons for the drop are complicated, but we do know with certainty that the American policy of mass incarceration has failed to deliver on its public safety promise. We also know that community safety has been undermined by excessive policing and the disproportionate incarceration of minority men. African-American and Latino communities continue to experience higher rates of justice involvement and victimization. For example, African-Americans, Latinos and whites engage in similar levels of drug use — behavior that is most likely to come to the attention of law enforcement — but minority communities are incarcerated at much higher levels than whites for drug crimes. Both sides of the political aisle have been moving away from tough-on-crime policies because of the growing awareness of the failures and long-term costs of incarceration. The short-term costs of incarcerating a young person can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, while the long-term costs associated with youth incarceration could cost taxpayers $8 billion to $21 billion a year. To change this picture, we have to do more than just curb costs. We have to change laws, policies and practices that lead to too many people experiencing the prison and justice system, and invest in the success of the communities most affected by crime to advance community safety. JASON ZIEDENBERG Director of Policy and Research Justice Policy Institute Washington, Jan. 14, 2015
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 01:18:46 +0000
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