Sid Shniad wrote: > > H. Bruce Franklin review in the Guardian Weekly: > > CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN AMERICA By Elliott Currie > > Holt/Metropolitan. 230pp. US$23 > > > > THIS IS a very unfashionable book. Elliott Currie does not believe that > > we need to build more and more prisons, impose longer sentences, make > > prisons as harsh as possible, eliminate educational opportunities for > > prisoners, reinstitute chain gangs, treat juvenile offenders as adults, > > and divert still more funds from social services to penal institutions. > > He clings to the old-fashioned notion that we should concentrate more on > > the prevention of crime. He even goes so far as to accept the hopelessly > > outdated idea that widespread poverty is the main cause of violent > > crime. If all this were not antiquated enough, Currie also evidently > > assumes that rational argument based on scientific knowledge -- i.e. > > reason and facts -- can change social policy. Even his prose style is > > anachronistic: earnest, free of jargon, lucid. > > > > When Currie, who has taught sociology and criminology at Yale and > > Berkeley, advanced similar arguments in his 1985 volume Confronting > > Crime, the New York Times reviewer noted that the "biggest incarceration > > binge in merican history" had increased the nation's prison population > > from fewer than 200,000 in 1970 to 454,000 by 1984. What may have seemed > > an astonishing number of inmates back in 1984 is dwarfed by the current > > prison population of 1.2 million, plus an additional half-a-million > > people in local jails. > > > > The United States now has by far the largest prison system on the planet. > > There are more prisoners in California alone than in any other country > > in the world except China and Russia. The present U.S. rate of > > incarceration is six times the global average, seven times that of > > Europe, 14 times that of Japan, 23 times that of India. European rates > > of incarceration are consistently well below 100 per 100,000 population; > > the rate of incarceration of African-American males is close to 4,000 per > > 100,000. > > > > As Currie puts it in the present volume, "mass incarceration has been > > the most thoroughly implemented government social program of our time," > > and we have thus been conducting a gigantic social "experiment," > > "testing the degree to which a modern industrial society can maintain > > public order through the threat of punishment." > > > > Has this experiment worked? Media attention has recently highlighted the > > falling rate of crime for the past four years. As Currie demonstrates, > > this decline has come during a period of unusually low unemployment and > > relative prosperity, actually bolstering his thesis that extreme poverty > > is the main cause of crime. Moreover, he notes that the crime rate has > > been falling only in relation to the extremely high levels of 1990-93. > > > > If we compare 1996 with 1984, the year cited in the review of Currie's > > earlier volume, we discover that the crime rate (according to the FBI's > > annual Crime Index) has actually risen 13 percent. The costs of this > > social experiment are immense. As Currie points out, the money spent on > > prisons has been "taken from the parts of the public sector that > > educate, train, socialize, treat, nurture, and house the population -- > > particularly the children of the poor." Currie if anything understates > > the consequences elsewhere in the public sector. For example, California > > now spends more on prisons than on higher education. Crime And Punishment > > In America cogently debunks what Currie labels the "myths" that rationalize > > and legitimize the prison craze. > > > > The "myth of leniency" (the prevailing notion that criminals are being let > > off too easily or let out too soon) is shown to be based on phony > > statistics, "unless we believe that . . . everyone convicted of an offense > > -- no matter how minor -- should be sent to jail or prison, and that all > > of those sent to prison should stay there for the rest of their lives." > > The "myth" that "prison works" ignores the soaring crime rates during most > > of the quarter-century of the incarceration experiment; it also assumes > > that the only alternative available to us has been doing nothing at all > > about crime. > > > > This leads to the parts of the book dearest to the author's heart: > > alternatives to mass incarceration. With thorough documentation from > > recent research, Currie describes a number of social programs that have > > indeed dramatically reduced rates of crime or recidivism, even among > > groups of people generally considered beyond hope. Examples he gives > > range from prenatal and preschool home visitation targeting child abuse > > through enriched schools for high-risk teenagers to successful community > > programs for youths who already have multiple arrests. The modest costs > > of these programs, together with their tangible benefits, offer a stark > > contrast to the enormously expensive mass incarceration model, with all > > its attendant social devastation. > > > > This is a book that ought to be read by anyone concerned about crime and > > punishment in America [or CANADA}, especially our political leaders and > > representatives. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> H. Bruce Franklin review in the Guardian Weekly: > CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN AMERICA By Elliott Currie > Holt/Metropolitan. 230pp. US$23 > > THIS IS a very unfashionable book. Elliott Currie does not believe that > we need to build more and more prisons, impose longer sentences, make > prisons as harsh as possible, eliminate educational opportunities for > prisoners, reinstitute chain gangs, treat juvenile offenders as adults, > and divert still more funds from social services to penal institutions. > He clings to the old-fashioned notion that we should concentrate more on > the prevention of crime. He even goes so far as to accept the hopelessly > outdated idea that widespread poverty is the main cause of violent > crime. If all this were not antiquated enough, Currie also evidently > assumes that rational argument based on scientific knowledge -- i.e. > reason and facts -- can change social policy. Even his prose style is > anachronistic: earnest, free of jargon, lucid. > > When Currie, who has taught sociology and criminology at Yale and > Berkeley, advanced similar arguments in his 1985 volume Confronting > Crime, the New York Times reviewer noted that the "biggest incarceration > binge in merican history" had increased the nation's prison population > from fewer than 200,000 in 1970 to 454,000 by 1984. What may have seemed > an astonishing number of inmates back in 1984 is dwarfed by the current > prison population of 1.2 million, plus an additional half-a-million > people in local jails. > > The United States now has by far the largest prison system on the planet. > There are more prisoners in California alone than in any other country > in the world except China and Russia. The present U.S. rate of > incarceration is six times the global average, seven times that of > Europe, 14 times that of Japan, 23 times that of India. European rates > of incarceration are consistently well below 100 per 100,000 population; > the rate of incarceration of African-American males is close to 4,000 per > 100,000. > > As Currie puts it in the present volume, "mass incarceration has been > the most thoroughly implemented government social program of our time," > and we have thus been conducting a gigantic social "experiment," > "testing the degree to which a modern industrial society can maintain > public order through the threat of punishment." > > Has this experiment worked? Media attention has recently highlighted the > falling rate of crime for the past four years. As Currie demonstrates, > this decline has come during a period of unusually low unemployment and > relative prosperity, actually bolstering his thesis that extreme poverty > is the main cause of crime. Moreover, he notes that the crime rate has > been falling only in relation to the extremely high levels of 1990-93. > > If we compare 1996 with 1984, the year cited in the review of Currie's > earlier volume, we discover that the crime rate (according to the FBI's > annual Crime Index) has actually risen 13 percent. The costs of this > social experiment are immense. As Currie points out, the money spent on > prisons has been "taken from the parts of the public sector that > educate, train, socialize, treat, nurture, and house the population -- > particularly the children of the poor." Currie if anything understates > the consequences elsewhere in the public sector. For example, California > now spends more on prisons than on higher education. Crime And Punishment > In America cogently debunks what Currie labels the "myths" that rationalize > and legitimize the prison craze. > > The "myth of leniency" (the prevailing notion that criminals are being let > off too easily or let out too soon) is shown to be based on phony > statistics, "unless we believe that . . . everyone convicted of an offense > -- no matter how minor -- should be sent to jail or prison, and that all > of those sent to prison should stay there for the rest of their lives." > The "myth" that "prison works" ignores the soaring crime rates during most > of the quarter-century of the incarceration experiment; it also assumes > that the only alternative available to us has been doing nothing at all > about crime. > > This leads to the parts of the book dearest to the author's heart: > alternatives to mass incarceration. With thorough documentation from > recent research, Currie describes a number of social programs that have > indeed dramatically reduced rates of crime or recidivism, even among > groups of people generally considered beyond hope. Examples he gives > range from prenatal and preschool home visitation targeting child abuse > through enriched schools for high-risk teenagers to successful community > programs for youths who already have multiple arrests. The modest costs > of these programs, together with their tangible benefits, offer a stark > contrast to the enormously expensive mass incarceration model, with all > its attendant social devastation. > > This is a book that ought to be read by anyone concerned about crime and > punishment in America [or CANADA}, especially our political leaders and > representatives.
