Violence, Prisons and Recessions

Recessions create economic desperation, drive people to bankruptcy, losing their life savings, watching their families go without. The reasonable expectation might well be that frustration would lead to anger which in turn lead to violent outbursts. The news is still filled with those exceptionally violent moments, like the Arizona attack on Congresswoman Giffords or the attack on a hapless Giants fan at a Dodgers’ baseball game, but strange as it seems, violent crime in the U.S. is significantly less in these dire economic times; 2010 had the lowest rate of reported violent crime in four decades.

“In all regions, the country appears to be safer. The odds of being murdered or robbed are now less than half of what they were in the early 1990s, when violent crime peaked in the United States. Small towns, especially, are seeing far fewer murders: In cities with populations under 10,000, the number plunged by more than 25 percent last year.” New York Times, May 23^rd. However, things aren’t as rosy in some of the larger cities. New York, for example, has seen a 14 percent increase in murder, and rape, robbery and assault were also on the rise. “New York was the only city with more than a million people besides San Antonio with an increase in the total number of violent crimes — a 4.6 percent jump, to 48,489 — and the only one besides Philadelphia to see a rise in murders.” NY Times.

“Criminology experts said they were surprised and impressed by the national numbers, issued on Monday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and based on data from more than 13,000 law-enforcement agencies. They said the decline nationally in the number of violent crimes, by 5.5 percent, raised the question, at least in some places, of to what extent crime could continue to fall — or at least fall at the same pace as the past two years. Violent crimes fell nearly the same amount in 2009…

“There was no immediate consensus to explain the drop. But some experts said the figures collided with theories about correlations between crime, unemployment and the number of people in prison… Take robbery: The nation has endured a devastating economic crisis, but robberies fell 9.5 percent last year, after dropping 8 percent the year before.” NY Times. To make issues a tad more complex, the reduction in violent crime also tracks a reduction of inmates behind bars. Apparently, America’s proclivity to incarcerate may actually increase violent crime. Are prisons schools for violence that only make inmates angrier and more bitter?

This may actually be good news as the United States Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court’s order mandating that, because of serious overcrowding and under-staffing, approximately 30,000 inmates must be released from California prisons over the next two years. Apparently, the shortage of funding for prisons – exacerbated by the recession – could not keep up with California’s need to incarcerate, with the overwhelming number of prisoners having some nexus to the world of narcotics.

The court was not persuaded that such a release would work a serious increased risk for the general public. Instead, Justice Anthony Kennedy noted that three photographs proved the cruel and unusual circumstances of California’s prison problem: “In the first two [pictures], men are packed into what looks like a makeshift shelter, with just a few guards monitoring as many as 200 prisoners. The third photo shows man-sized cages in which prisoners needing mental health treatment are held until a bed opens up. One inmate, Justice Kennedy writes, was found standing ‘in a pool of his own urine, unresponsive and nearly catatonic.’” NY Times (Editorial).

The United States, not just California, needs to begin a serious reevaluation of the understanding of the relationship between economic hardship, incarceration and the real impact on deterrence. With 5% of the world’s population, it is truly difficult to understand why we incarcerate about 25% of the earth’s prisoners.

I’m Peter Dekom, and completely rethinking entrenched old ways is always a good thing, even if you decide to continue old practices.