DOJ to Pew Report: You Forgot to Count the Children
The Times article about the recent Pew report (1 in 100 U.S. Adults Now in Prison) has lit up the blogosphere. I’ve been thinking about commenting on the story, but really, it’s just more of the same. True, hitting the 1% mark is something of a - what’s the word I’m looking for here – milestone? But we’ve been moving in this direction for sometime.
This paragraph in the article jumped out at me:
The report’s methodology differed from that used by the Justice Department, which calculates the incarceration rate by using the total population rather than the adult population as the denominator. Using the department’s methodology, about one in 130 Americans is behind bars.
Is the Justice Department is trying to downplay the most sensible way of reporting this information? Hey – I’m going to include American dogs and cats as well as babies and children… that way we can claim an incarceration rate of one in 250. Sounds a lot less extreme, doesn’t it?
Obviously, the War on Drug Users is the main culprit.
Other Blogs/Same Story
From Addiction Inbox:
The Pew study reveals that addiction is as firmly criminalized as ever. The compressed essence of the war on drugs is simply to put as many people in jail as possible. Obviously, long prison terms will not cure addicts of their condition, any more than long prison terms for diabetics would cure that condition.
From (Austin prosecutor) Steanso:
Personally, I'm all for treatment and rehab services for nonviolent drug offenders, and I'd like to see nonviolent offenders with mental health problems diverted into treatment as well. Aside from the fact that I think these solutions are more humane than simply locking people up, I think that overall, in the long run, treatment solutions are probably more cost effective than having to repeatedly deal with these people over and over in the justice system.
