Lawmakers, making political hay out of Americans’ fear of crime, have gone on a legislating binge in recent years, mandating tougher, stricter and longer sentences for criminals. But it’s taxpayers who are beginning to feel the hangover.
Citizens are asked to fork over billions of dollars each year to construct more and more prisons to handle the flood of new detainees, despite mounting evidence that longer jail terms don’t do much to reduce crime. And projections show that the new prisons will be just as crowded the day they open.
The United States already jails a greater share of its population than any other country in the Western world. In 1970, one out of every 1,042 Americans was behind bars. By 1987, that figure had risen to one person out of every 438 persons. In California alone, prison population has nearly tripled since 1980. Experts predict another 21% increase nationwide by 1992.
