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January 23, 2009
MI: Getting smart on crime — and prison time
Getting smart on crime — and prison time
Jeff Gerritt
January 22, 2009
A study by a far more credible source than me — the Justice Center at the Council of State Governments — backs what I’ve been saying the last eight years: We’re locking too many people up. Michigan’s way high incarceration rates are bankrupting the state while failing to make us safer. The Justice Center reports are available here.)
The policies of the Michigan State Parole Board — which denies releases for often inexplicable reasons, even when people are old and sick — have caused much of the problem. The Parole Board has loosened up in the past year, but there are still 12,000 prisoners in Michigan past their earliest release date. Those 12,000 people, together, cost taxpayers $420 million a year.
One of the council’s recommendations — and it’s a good one — is to direct the parole board, through legislation, to release most inmates before they serve more than 120% of their sentences. This is not, as a Freep.com headline indicates, an early release.
These prisoners have served more than the minimum time dictated by their sentences, and they are parole-eligible.
Right now, the average parolee in Michigan has served 127% of his or her sentence. Just reducing time served to 120% would cut the overall prison population by more than 4,300 by 2015. That’s four fewer prisons.
Studies show that length of sentence has little to do with how likely a person is to commit another crime. The parole board now has too much discretion. Legally requiring releases after a certain period would take some of the heat off them.
Money saved with fewer prisons could put more cops on the street and increase intervention work with young men. Males 17-24 now commit 26% of the violent crimes. Intervention programs, like Flip the Script in Detroit, would reduce that number. In other words, spend more money on preventing crime and less after the damage is done.
Other states have made similar changes. They save hundreds of millions of dollars and still report lower crime rates than Michigan. We’ve tried tough on crime. Now let’s get smart on crime.
http://www.freep.com/article/20090122/BLOG2505/90122088/1068/opinion/Getting+smart+on+crime+%E2%80%94+and+prison+time
Posted by lois at January 23, 2009 11:21 PM