Highlights
Progressives within the US Department of Justice and beyond believe that violent offenders can safely be released from prison or deferred (i.e., put on probation).
There is a national movement supported by candidate Biden to release half of all prison inmates. Per data, most of these violent offenders will return to distressed communities and reoffend again.
The way to fix the problem? Redefine criminality.
Author
Note
This is the third in a series of articles examining US Department of Justice policies pertaining to reduced correctional spending and the release of mostly violent prison inmates. See Crime in America for additional articles.
Opinion
For decades, progressive authors have bitterly complained about the way we measure criminality. Data from the US Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics show that the overwhelming majority of released prisoners are rearrested and incarcerated once again for new crimes, not technical violations (data below).
The track record for rehabilitation programs is dismal.
Progressives ask, “Who’s going to hire ex-offenders if the Department of Justice puts out reports saying that the great majority will just be rearrested once again?” “Who’s going to support rehabilitation programs when the recidivism rate (i.e., new crimes and incarcerations) is sky high?” “Who is supportive of releasing offenders from prison if the data shows that they will become a danger to their communities?”
The way to fix the problem with USDOJ data? Redefine criminality.
A Limited Prison Capacity
Progressives have a point; we don’t have the capacity to put every convicted person in prison. It’s the same with offenders violating parole or probation. Incarcerating everyone would literally exhaust the capacities of every correctional system in the country in months.
To progressives, an arrest of someone on parole or probation should be moderated by other factors suggesting that the offender is making progress (i.e., employment, completing drug treatment).
If you redefine criminality, it makes it easier to release offenders from prison because they completed drug or mental health treatment or behave while incarcerated.
But there is a vast difference between the wise use of correctional capacities and releasing mostly violent criminals from prison. There is a movement supported by candidate Biden and others to cut prison populations in half.
Desistance-Redefining Criminality
From a series of papers by the National Institute of Justice of the US Department of Justice:
“Academic criminologists have increasingly challenged the criminal justice system to pivot from a focus on recidivism to a focus on desistance— a word that is far less familiar than recidivism to most practitioners and the public — measures the process by which those who previously participated in criminal behavior move toward stopping the behavior or ending a criminal career. However, implementation of desistance concepts in criminal justice practice has lagged.”
“When incorporating desistance into practice, researchers and practitioners must decide how to operationalize and measure desistance. For instance, what behaviors count as desistance? One view holds that outcomes such as employment and sobriety might serve as markers of desistance. However, existing research that examines the link between these markers and criminal behavior is often correlational and relatively weak. It is tempting to focus on these non-criminal-justice outcomes because they are easier to affect in some cases, while recidivism rates tend to show very little change.”
“This paper argues, however, that criminal behavior should remain the focus of desistance and that recidivism should not be abandoned as a measure of desistance.”
You can read all six papers regarding desistance at the National Institute of Justice.
Combining Desistance with DOJ’s Pledge To Reduce Incarceration
The Office of Justice Programs of the US Department of Justice states that an avowed goal is to reduce incarceration. The US Department of Justice issued a press release announcing upcoming initiatives. It’s a 38 million dollar initiative. Quick synopsis from the Office of Justice Programs press release: (edited for brevity)
“The grants announced today will support several programs aimed at improving public safety while reducing incarceration (emphasis added) and addressing long-standing racial disparities.”
“BJA is awarding $11.8 million under the Justice Reinvestment Initiative: State-level Training and Technical Assistance Program, which will fund training and technical assistance providers to help states implement data-driven strategies to improve public safety by reducing corrections spending (emphasis added) and reinvesting those savings in efforts to decrease crime and strengthen neighborhoods.”
Are we now moving from a disastrous “defund the police effort” to an equally dubious attempt to “defund corrections”?
Candidate Biden’s Pledge To Cut Prison Populations In Half
The Office of Justice Program’s desire to reduce the prison population or NIJ’s effort to redefine criminality could be seen as appeasement for progressives who supported candidate Biden.
“Would you commit to cutting incarceration by 50%?” Albert asks Biden. “More than that. We can do it more than that,” he responds.
Is the Department of Justice taking candidate Biden’s remarks literally?
Most Prison Inmates Are Violent
Fifty-eight percent of state male offenders are “currently” serving sentences for violent crimes, Bureau Of Justice Statistics. The percentage would be much higher if criminal history was included, Prisoners Released And New Crimes. Those in prison are there either for a violent crime or a violent history or they have been arrested and incarcerated multiple times.
Impact on Public Safety-Recidivism
Recidivism is based on those released from prison who are arrested, convicted or incarcerated once again.
The most common understanding of recidivism is based on state data from the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, stating that two-thirds (68 percent) of prisoners released were arrested for a new crime within three years of release from prison, and three-quarters (77 percent) were arrested within five years.
Within 3 years of release, 49.7% of inmates either had an arrest that resulted in a conviction with a disposition of a prison sentence or were returned to prison without a new conviction because they violated a technical condition of their release, as did 55.1% of inmates within 5 years of release, Offender Recidivism.
82% were arrested at least once during the 10 years following release. Prisoners released had a median of nine prior arrests and five prior convictions in their criminal history.
The question is whether we should release half (per candidate Biden) or a substantial number of mostly violent prison inmates if they are almost guaranteed to have an impact on violence and crime?
Considering the above, is it right to redefine criminality to include moderating factors?
Conclusions
Regardless of the President’s observations or plummeting poll numbers on crime, there are national organizations pumping millions of dollars into progressive crime policies. They are demanding change. They really want a 50 percent reduction in the prison population.
You could do this by redefining criminality or by funding initiatives to reduce correctional spending.
Releasing hundreds of thousands of multi-repeat or violent criminals would devastate the communities they return to. Considering the exploding rates of fear and violence, any decision to release dangerous offenders would be political suicide. This issue alone would destroy Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.
I Interviewed hundreds of offenders for radio and television shows. I sat with well over a hundred violent offenders in a major jail to gain insights for a state crime summit. I sat across from violent offenders and discussed their stories multiple times.
For those who succeed, they need our support and encouragement. But when one tells me that their female victim got what she deserved (a rape) if she was stupid enough to come on to his street and ask for directions, it confirms what we already know; we have some truly dangerous people in prison.
The issue of desistance deserves some consideration; we don’t have the capacity to lock up everyone, which is why the DOJ states that the average violent offender serves less than three years in prison.
But with the Department of Justice’s avowed purpose to reduce the prison population plus candidate Biden’s vow to cut the correctional population in half plus the National Institute of Justice’s effort to explore “alternative” definitions of criminality, it makes some more than a bit concerned that misguided progressives could inflict immense harm on the American public through prison releases or deferrals.
See More
See more articles on crime and justice at Crime in America.
Most Dangerous Cities/States/Countries at Most Dangerous Cities.
US Crime Rates at Nationwide Crime Rates.
National Offender Recidivism Rates at Offender Recidivism.
An Overview Of Data On Mental Health at Mental Health And Crime.
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