Content area
Full Text
Am J Crim Just (2015) 40:399415
DOI 10.1007/s12103-014-9265-3
Erin A. Orrick & Lynne M. Vieraitis
Received: 25 November 2013 /Accepted: 16 June 2014 /
Published online: 1 July 2014# Southern Criminal Justice Association 2014
Abstract In the wake of the recent economic crisis state policymakers have begun to consider redirecting expenditures on corrections as a way to trim state budgets. Recent attention has focused on reducing prison populations as a solution. However, this is a politically charged issue that has to balance the needs of the government and criminal justice system in the milieu of resource scarcity, with the needs of the offenders, and the safety of the community. This paper assesses how reducing inmates time served in prison, eliminating the use of prison for parole or probation technical violators, and decriminalizing victimless crimes could impact the financial costs of incarceration in the state of Texas. Implications for policy and evidence-based alternatives to incarceration are discussed.
Keywords Prison population . Crime policy. Justice reinvestment
Introduction
Beginning in the 1970s, a surge in tough-on-crime policies marked a dramatic shift in U.S. criminal justice policy and solidified the prominence of a crime control model of punishment for the next 40 years. Prompted by the rise in violent crime rates and the publication of Martinsons 1974 study on rehabilitation programs, rehabilitation lost favor with policymakers and the public and was replaced with incapacitation, deter-rence and retribution as the predominant goals of punishment. These new goals were met by relying primarily on increasing the number of individuals sentenced to prison and lengthening offenders time served in prison (Blumstein & Beck, 1999; Lipsey & Cullen, 2007). Various laws including truth in sentencing, three strikes youre out, and mandatory minimums were passed to achieve these goals. The result, a steep rise in
E. A. Orrick (*)
Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341, USAe-mail: [email protected]
L. M. Vieraitis
University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd, GR31, Richardson 75080-3021, USA
The Cost of Incarceration in Texas: Estimating the Benefits of Reducing the Prison Population
400 Am J Crim Just (2015) 40:399415
incarceration rates, has led to the construction of more prisons and an increasing share of state dollars spent on corrections. At year-end 2010,...