Our prison/incarceration policy results in the destruction of families and neighborhoods.
Our policies cost us a fortune annually, funds that should be invested in education, job skills training, health care, public safety, housing. . .the list goes on and on.
I found this chart very useful in putting the entire picture in perspective.
Thoughts?
1 comment:
While the graph is very informative, it is impossible to determine the causes from simple distributions. It appears that our system has defaulted to a single punishment of incarceration, when other solutions would be more appropriate. Furthermore, I wonder if we have over-criminalized ourselves, resulting in more reasons to put people in jail than is really needed. But I do believe our society is more violent than others, which could be addressed through a change in culture and what is considered socially-acceptable behavior. How does the distribution of different types of crimes compare with other Western and non-Western nations? The graph leads to more questions than answers. I hope smarter people than me are working on this problem.
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