Binky
05-16-2005, 03:46 PM
IMPRISON EVERYONE
Letter writer Richard Bowers just may be on to something ( "Prison Cuts Crime," May 3 ). As he correctly notes, at the same time the U.S. prison population has approached and now surpassed the 2.1 million inmate mark, the overall crime rate has fallen. Obviously the way to slash the crime rate to zero is to incarcerate everyone. And as we all know, the moment someone steps inside a jail all criminal activity stops. Thanks in large part to a perpetual War on ( some ) Drugs Inc., the U.S. is now the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in incarcerating our own citizens. No other regime, past or present, has even come close. Now just what kind of message does that send the rest of the world? That Americans are the most wicked people in the world?
Crime costs all of us, but at $30,000 per inmate per year prisons are hardly free either. Maybe it's time to stop getting tough on crime and start getting smart instead.
Greg Francisco
Paw Paw, Mich.
2005 Bradenton Herald
Contact: dklement@bradentonherald.com
Website: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradentonherald/
Letter writer Richard Bowers just may be on to something ( "Prison Cuts Crime," May 3 ). As he correctly notes, at the same time the U.S. prison population has approached and now surpassed the 2.1 million inmate mark, the overall crime rate has fallen. Obviously the way to slash the crime rate to zero is to incarcerate everyone. And as we all know, the moment someone steps inside a jail all criminal activity stops. Thanks in large part to a perpetual War on ( some ) Drugs Inc., the U.S. is now the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in incarcerating our own citizens. No other regime, past or present, has even come close. Now just what kind of message does that send the rest of the world? That Americans are the most wicked people in the world?
Crime costs all of us, but at $30,000 per inmate per year prisons are hardly free either. Maybe it's time to stop getting tough on crime and start getting smart instead.
Greg Francisco
Paw Paw, Mich.
2005 Bradenton Herald
Contact: dklement@bradentonherald.com
Website: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradentonherald/