One of the many news services I monitor on a daily basis had a link to a recent article in the Seattle Times. Neal Peirce wrote a column on the recent increase in violent crime nationwide and ways to address it. Peirce urges the community to consider a wide range of crime prevention strategies rather than relying on more police resources to control crime (though he does seem to support community policing).
He urges the use of cost effective rehabilitation programs rather than continuing with a mindset that we can arrest and incarcerate our way out of drug abuse and violent crime problem. He writes in part:
There's surely a smarter way to use our public dollars. A study last year by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy showed that $1 spent imprisoning drug offenders produced 37 cents in crime reduction benefits; the same $1 spent to give offenders community based drug treatment produced $18.52 in benefits.
The column is worth reading as we constantly seek the most effective public policy for preventing crime. I have not read the studies he references and cannot speak to their claims, but his thoughts are certainly worth sharing with our community. Let us know what you think.
-Asst Chief Bill LePere
I haven't yet read the particular study he mentioned, but it and others like it are at the Washington State Institute for Public Policy site:
http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/default.asp
If the numbers are true, it sounds like a political win-win. Fiscal conservatives see a better ROI, while liberals see people rehabilitated instead of incarcerated.
Posted by: Chuck Welch | June 20, 2007 at 12:31 AM