Police State

For the first time in history more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison—a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety. According to a new report released today by the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project, at the start of 2008, 2,319,258 adults were held in American prisons or jails, or one in every 99.1 men and women, according to the study. During 2007, the prison population rose by more than 25,000 inmates. In addition to detailing state and regional prison growth rates, Pew’s report, One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008, identifies how corrections spending compares to other state investments, why it has increased, and what some states are doing to limit growth in both prison populations and costs while maintaining public safety.

As prison populations expand, costs to states are on the rise. Last year alone, states spent more than $49 billion on corrections, up from $11 billion 20 years before. However, the national recidivism rate remains virtually unchanged, with about half of released inmates returning to jail or prison within three years. And while violent criminals and other serious offenders account for some of the growth, many inmates are low-level offenders or people who have violated the terms of their probation or parole.

“For all the money spent on corrections today, there hasn’t been a clear and convincing return for public safety,” said Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety Performance Project.

A close examination of the most recent U.S. Department of Justice data (2006) found that while one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, the figure is one in nine for black males in that age group. Men are still roughly 13 times more likely to be incarcerated, but the female population is expanding at a far brisker pace. For black women in their mid- to late-30s, the incarceration rate also has hit the one-in-100 mark. In addition, one in every 53 adults in their 20s is behind bars; the rate for those over 55 is one in 837.

The report points out the necessity of locking up violent and repeat offenders, but notes that prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect a parallel increase in crime, or a corresponding surge in the nation’s population at large. Instead, more people are behind bars principally because of a wave of policy choices that are sending more lawbreakers to prison and, through popular “three-strikes” measures and other sentencing laws, imposing longer prison stays on inmates.

As a result, states’ corrections costs have risen substantially. Twenty years ago, the states collectively spent $10.6 billion of their general funds—their primary discretionary dollars—on corrections. Pew found that over the same 20-year period, inflation-adjusted general fund spending on corrections rose 127 percent while higher education expenditures rose just 21 percent.

According to Pew, some states are attempting to protect public safety and reap corrections savings primarily by holding lower-risk offenders accountable in less-costly settings and using intermediate sanctions for parolees and probationers who violate conditions of their release. These include a mix of community-based programs such as day reporting centers, treatment facilities, electronic monitoring systems and community service—tactics recently adopted in Kansas and Texas. Another common intervention, used in Kansas and Nevada, is making small reductions in prison terms for inmates who complete substance abuse treatment and other programs designed to cut their risk of recidivism.


These are excerpts - read the whole article here:
www.pewcenteronthestates.org/new...aspx

Delegate Lyoness at your service...

I arrived at my precinct caucus last night as a simple citizen out to change the direction of our government, and I left the caucus as one of our 20 delegates. It was a verrry interesting & often even exciting experience.

Neither my aunt nor I had never attended a caucus before. In fact I've never voted in a primary before b/c as a true independent, I have always preferred to remain free to nominate independent & 3rd party candidates (which you cannot do in Texas if you participate in either party's primary election).

This year though, I find myself so inspired by Barak Obama that I feel moved to do my part to help him win the nomination. I just didn't expect my part to extend beyond voting for him twice, but since I've been elected as a delegate, I will get to vote for him THREE times!

I live in a pretty rural & predominantly republican part of Texas, so I was pleasantly surprised by the big turnout at the caucus last night. There were less than a dozen republicans participating in their party caucus, but 127 people participated in the democratic caucus. I am fairly certain we had quite a few republicans crossing over to vote in the democratic primaries, but I didn't conduct any kind of official poll~it's just an educated assumption based on the demographics of the people in attendance & the political history of our predominantly republican precinct. My friends on the Jellyheads tribe raise an interesting point, which is that a lot of republicans may have turned out to vote for Hillary in the primaries b/c they want McCain to face off w/ a candidate he has a better chance of beating in November than Barak Obama. In hindsight, that theory fits fairly well.

Of those 127 caucusees, 61 voted for Hillary & 66 voted for Obama. That breaks down to 48.03% for Hillary & 51.97% for Barak.

Based on voter turnout in prior years, our precinct was allotted 20 Delegates (& 20 alternates in case any delegates can't fulfill their duties). In order to divide our 20 delegates in proportion to our votes, we had a choice to make. Based on the 52 to 48% split, the division of our 20 delegates came out to 10.4 for Obama & 9.6 for Clinton. Now, how to "divide" that last delegate? The by laws gave us 2 options: We could give Obama 10 & Clinton 9 to reflect the fact that it was not an actual tie, however in so doing, our precinct would be forfeiting one of its allotted delegates. Our other option was to round Clinton's 9.6 up & give her a 10th delegate.

At this point, our caucus got into a mighty spirited debate. Let me tell you, some of those Clinton folks were spewing some pretty fuzzy logic ;~) Granted I'm biased toward Barak, but I think it would have been a more accurate representation of our county's actual votes to have assigned Obama 10 delegates & Clinton 9, but it did not pan out that way. Ultimately, more Clinton supporters had stuck around than Obama supporters, so in a vote of 42 to 35, we rounded up & gave Hillary a 10th delegate.

Then we broke off in 2 groups to elect our delegates & alternates. That whole process went very smoothly & didn't take long at all. My dear auntie thought I'd make a good delegate, so she nominated me & no one objected, so yeehaw! I get to vote for Obama again at my county democratic convention on 3/29 ;~)

After we ratified our delegates, it was time to consider some resolutions. One intelligent citizen proposed that we throw out our new touch screen voting machines & return to our punch card paper ballot system b/c the touch screen paperless system provides no recourse for a recount, which we are entitled to by the state constitution. That resolution passed unanimously! Sadly, I suspect implementing that resolution may prove more difficult.

I must say, it's a good feeling to get involved & put some active participation behind all my political bitching. Who knows? Maybe I'll get even more inspired at the county convention. At this rate, I could conceivably be knocking on doors to get out the vote by November.

Power to the Peaceful!