Constitutional Law

Contemplating Alternatives To Incarceration

In an article for the ABA Journal, Ben Trachtenberg, a visiting law professor at Brooklyn Law School, writes that the nation’s incarceration rate continues “top the world in per capita imprisonment” and that it is long past time for policymakers to revisit the subject. Even if state and federal lawmakers were not grappling with tough economic times, they would do well to use alternatives to incarceration, which Trachtenberg says “drains public treasuries without providing any future benefit.” He adds that California already spends more than $10 billion on incarceration. Blindly dumping boatloads of money into building more prisons could be countered by turning to “nonincarceration alternatives, such as drug treatment for addicts and community services for small-time thieves,” which “cost less and reduce misery across the board,” Trachtenberg maintains. “A rational criminal justice system,” he continues, “would, while shortening sentences of certain offenders, keep others out of prison altogether. With alternative treatments and punishments, a state shrinks its prison budget, allows convicts to keep their jobs and support their families, and makes recidivism less likely.”

Full post as published by ACS Blog on January 28, 2009 (boomark / email).