Comments on: Your odds are 1 in 100!

By: Incarceration and the 1/100 Study « New Soc Prof’s Weblog

Incarceration and the 1/100 Study « New Soc Prof’s Weblog — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 04:28:38 +0000

[...] in 100 are currently in prison (for discussion, see scatterplot, grad mommy, general blog of crime, controlling authority, and, I’m sure, others. uggen also points out *correctly* that the 1 in 100 figure is an [...]

By: laurabethnielsen

laurabethnielsen — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:38:01 +0000

I think we had “stimulating” those sectors with better outcomes during the WPA — let’s build schools and community centers and roads.

By: lbsmom

lbsmom — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:03:00 +0000

California has a 14.5 billion dollar deficit for its 2008-09 budget. Of that, Gov. Schwarzenegger’s recommending a 9.6% reduction in K-12 education, 11% cut to higher education, & surprise–a much smaller cut to corrections & rehabilitation–only 4%. Prison costs have risen 79% in the past 5 yrs. Currently, there are about 172,000 inmates in our state facilities alone.

If you want a full time volunteer job, come to California & solicit signatures outside grocery stores, door to door, etc, for almost anything of interest to you. When you get 433,971 signatures on your petition, it can go on the ballot. The most interesting one right now is NORA, the non-violent rehabilitation act which would make marijuana possession an infraction instead of a misdemeanor. Read more about it & California’s prisons at this link:

http://www.prisonlaw.com/index.php

By: nobamakoolaid

nobamakoolaid — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:48:07 +0000

The waste in both financial and human is quite obvious. But what can we do to reverse this situation? First, consider that almost all of these inmates are incarcerated at the state or local level. That’s at least 50 separate systems working independently to produce this massive machine. We need one governor with large enough cojones to step up and enact real reform. Maybe by showing that policies aimed at rehabilitation would work given a chance, others states would follow. People would have to be released and sentencing guidelines changed. New bureaucracies (to facilitate rehab and vocational programs) would have to be formed. Two problems; first its political suicide, so that brave governor needs to be willing to sacrifice her political career for the cause. And, just as things started moving along in the direction we all want, some person who would otherwise be in jail would commit some heinous crime; enter a swarming media and the Joe Arpaios of the world. At that point, the pressure might be so great that the backlash is greater than the actual reforms. The solution seems so unlikely that I might just try to do something about it.

By: vancleve

vancleve — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:15:51 +0000

The prison system is a viable economy that sustains many people. I can’t help but think that if we established solid, social service industries for the drug addicted, mentally ill and ex-offenders who have served their time, we could employ these folks in other “service” industries. Incarceration has replaced many social services that could be a thriving and positive alternatives for jobs.

One clarification…my odds are not 1 in 100….since I am in Latina, my odds are about 1 in 36. I should get back to my paper now, and stay out of trouble.

By: Geoffrey Derrick

Geoffrey Derrick — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:08:25 +0000

The report is here: http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/One%20in%20100.pdf

Being a devil’s advocate here for a second — doesn’t the prison industry employ a large number of workers and work to prop-up parts of the economy that are currently lagging (construction, manufacturing, etc.)? I know it’s the taxpayers who are funding this stimulus, but — as this report makes clear — the prison industry has been and continues to be one of the most reliable growth sectors of the American economy.