Less Crime, More Criminals (was Re: Damien): correction

[Fellows, Jeffrey]

The data are separated by where they are in the criminal justice system. The
privatisation issue is important for other reasons, but it is largely
superfluous to the issue of incarceration rate changes. After all, the state
still pays the bill. There is no hard evidence that I know of that shows
private (largely min/medium security facilities) actually save society
money. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Carrol Cox [mailto:cbcox at ilstu.edu]
Sent: Monday, March 08, 1999 12:41 PM
To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
Subject: Re: Less Crime, More Criminals (was Re: Damien): correction

"Fellows, Jeffrey" wrote:


> .... so states with the biggest problems appear to be moving
> into intermediate sanctions for nonviolent offenders (between imprisonment
> and probation). This certainly says nothing about the problems of what
acts
> are or are not criminalized,

I would suggest that  the figure that counts most is not the number of
people
incarcerated but the number of people (including most crucially,
juveniles) "involved in the criminal justice system": incarcerated,
probation,
parole, court supervision, juvenile detention, on bail awaiting trial, in
jail awaiting trial, etc. Are aggregate numbers available on these? The
ways in which this system can control and disrupt the lives of individuals
are endless.