High Cost of Crime

[The_Dude 1,142]

High Cost of Crime

When times get hard and talk turns to spending and budgets, there is one area that gets short shrift: the cost of crime and our enormous criminal justice system. For instance, how much do you think a single murder costs society? According to researchers at Iowa State University, it is a whopping $17.25 million.

Those researchers analyzed 2003 data from cases in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas and calculated the figure based on “victim costs, criminal justice system costs, lost productivity estimates for both the victim and the criminal, and estimates on the public’s resulting willingness to pay to prevent future violence.” That willingness to prevent future violence includes collateral costs like expenditures for security measures, insurance and government welfare programs. It’s hard to believe that they could calculate the collateral costs with any real degree of accuracy, but I understand the concept.

(They also calculated that each rape costs $448,532, each robbery $335,733, each aggravated assault $145,379 and each burglary $41,288.)

By their estimates, more than 18,000 homicides that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded in 2007 alone will cost us roughly $300 billion. That’s about as much as we’ve spent over nine years fighting the war in Afghanistan. That’s more than the 2010 federal budget for the Departments of Education, Justice, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Labor and Homeland Security combined. Does anyone else see a problem here?

Although the annual murder rate in the U.S. has fallen to historic lows, it is still at least twice as high as that of any of the other rich countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. In fact, it’s even higher than in countries like Rwanda, Angola and Mozambique. And there are troubling signs this year as big cities around the country — New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit — are seeing sharp rises in murder rates.

Our approach to this crime problem for more than two decades has been the mass incarceration of millions of Americans and the industrializing of our criminal justice system. Over the last 25 years, the prison population has quadrupled. This is a race to the bottom and a waste of human capital. A prosperous country cannot remain so by following this path.

Many crimes could have been prevented if the offenders had had the benefit of a competent educational system and a more expansive, better-financed social service system. Sure, some criminals are just bad people, but more are people who took a wrong turn, got lost and ended up on the wrong path. Those we can save.

We have a choice to make: pay a little now or a lot later. Seems like a clear choice to me. But I’m not in Washington where they view clarity as an affliction of the weak.

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In these trying economic times, we need to look at our criminal justice system to figure out how we can recover the monies that criminals have stolen from society. With levels of recidivism rising each year, I think we need to discuss more radical ideas in combating crime, more specifically as it relates to economic loss and liability.

[Ste 6]

My first point is: What has the national homicide rate got to do with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?

My second point is that I agree with the report, but I'm sure I can predict what some people are going to say about it. e.g. "Don't give them any social programs, it's all their fault they're criminals. I don't care if it costs us hundreds of billions a year, and that spending a few billion could save a lot of that money and improve the quality of life for everyone. No to social programs!!"

[The_Dude 1,142]

My first point is: What has the national homicide rate got to do with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?

My second point is that I agree with the report, but I'm sure I can predict what some people are going to say about it. e.g. "Don't give them any social programs, it's all their fault they're criminals. I don't care if it costs us hundreds of billions a year, and that spending a few billion could save a lot of that money and improve the quality of life for everyone. No to social programs!!"

I would suggest all of those, and in some cases, expulsion. Criminals are the bane of our society. They compound the economic woes that we find ourselves in with their poor decisions. At a minimum, I think they should have their wages garnished until they pay off what we as a society were forced to pay for in the form of taxes and higher premiums.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

My first point is: What has the national homicide rate got to do with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?

My second point is that I agree with the report, but I'm sure I can predict what some people are going to say about it. e.g. "Don't give them any social programs, it's all their fault they're criminals. I don't care if it costs us hundreds of billions a year, and that spending a few billion could save a lot of that money and improve the quality of life for everyone. No to social programs!!"

The failed system that was built for the most part by libs is nothing more than a reason to keep dead beat government workers in a job...peeps that couldn't cut it in the real world, yet gain employment via the system. California is a prime example of this.

http://news.yahoo.com/wifes-video-among-revelations-dugard-case-080740898.html <---- Here's an example of dead beat government workers that do nothing more than soak a check out of tax payers.

"Had the federal parole agents been doing their job and searching the residence (and the recording studio they were aware of), then they would have found Jaycee Lee Dugard imprisoned in the back yard," Pierson asserted.

Edited August 4, 2011 by Why_Me

[The_Dude 1,142]

The failed system that was built for the most part by libs is nothing more than a reason to keep dead beat government workers in a job...peeps that couldn't cut it in the real world, yet gain employment via the system. California is a prime example of this.

http://news.yahoo.com/wifes-video-among-revelations-dugard-case-080740898.html <---- Here's an example of dead beat government workers that do nothing more than soak a check out of tax payers.

Nice attempt at trolling Kip. Please stay on topic. Would you like to dispute the societal and economic cost that crime and criminals has?

[Obama 2012 1,714]

we'd save a lot of money if all DNA murder convictions were death sentences and we didn't have a "temporary insanity" defense.

Edited August 4, 2011 by DJ Kyo

[_Simpson_ 250]

My first point is: What has the national homicide rate got to do with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?

My second point is that I agree with the report, but I'm sure I can predict what some people are going to say about it. e.g. "Don't give them any social programs, it's all their fault they're criminals. I don't care if it costs us hundreds of billions a year, and that spending a few billion could save a lot of that money and improve the quality of life for everyone. No to social programs!!"

The lefties have done a number on you. If only the opposing sides argument was that weak, then you could win the minds and hearts of millions. Its all about the happy medium and pumping money into it is not always the answer.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

we'd save a lot of money if all DNA murder convictions were death sentences and we didn't have a "temporary insanity" defense.

Libs don't want that. They want the "social programs" that keep those peeps in a job and thus driving up the cost. guards, social workers (counseling), public defenders, judges, probation officers, etc... the system is built to keep all those people in a job using tax payer dollars.

[_Simpson_ 250]

we'd save a lot of money if all DNA murder convictions were death sentences and we didn't have a "temporary insanity" defense.

Not in California. I read something a while back that said it was cheaper to let them rot in prison for the rest of their life than put them to death. It was a biased piece posted by Steve so I imagine there is probably more to the story.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Not in California. I read something a while back that said it was cheaper to let them rot in prison for the rest of their life than put them to death. It was a biased piece posted by Steve so I imagine there is probably more to the story.

That's not just California, but nationwide. I think what Paul is referring to is a case where there is definitive DNA proof as to who did it. I don't support the death penalty, what I support is 100% restitution by the criminals. If they refuse to pay, then we need to find some sort of penal colony that we can ship them to. This isn't a liberal or conservative issue, it is about fiscal responsibility.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

That's not just California, but nationwide. I think what Paul is referring to is a case where there is definitive DNA proof as to who did it. I don't support the death penalty, what I support is 100% restitution by the criminals. If they refuse to pay, then we need to find some sort of penal colony that we can ship them to. This isn't a liberal or conservative issue, it is about fiscal responsibility.

And this "penal colony" is going to be free eh? If they murdered someone, and DNA shows they did...then capital punishment takes care of the rest.

And yes this is a lib issue. It's the libs who created all the bs court ordered social programs to keep peeps in a job that most likely couldn't cut it in the real world.

Edited August 4, 2011 by Why_Me

[_Simpson_ 250]

That's not just California, but nationwide. I think what Paul is referring to is a case where there is definitive DNA proof as to who did it. I don't support the death penalty, what I support is 100% restitution by the criminals. If they refuse to pay, then we need to find some sort of penal colony that we can ship them to. This isn't a liberal or conservative issue, it is about fiscal responsibility.

This is complicated issue and no one answer will work for every situation, now with that said I don't think making criminals pay society back is a real world solution for the most part. Hell half of the time we're lucky if they get a stable job and pay taxes.

[The_Dude 1,142]

And this "penal colony" is going to be free eh? If they murdered someone, and DNA shows they did...then capital punishment takes care of the rest.

And yes this is a lib issue. It's the libs who created all the bs court ordered social programs to keep peeps in a job that most likely couldn't cut it in the real world.

Actually, it's not a liberal/conservative issue, despite your best efforts. This isn't somethign you can just blame on the libs and move on.

I am more focused on the 100% restitution aspect. Why should I have to pay for the stupid mistakes of others? I don't believe in the death penalty because it is fiscally irresponsible, and it is not a deterrent.

[_Simpson_ 250]

Actually, it's not a liberal/conservative issue, despite your best efforts. This isn't somethign you can just blame on the libs and move on.

I am more focused on the 100% restitution aspect. Why should I have to pay for the stupid mistakes of others? I don't believe in the death penalty because it is fiscally irresponsible, and it is not a deterrent.

This is a unrealistic approach.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

In Alaska you pay for court cost, booze counseling..or whatever they make you go to, probation fee's, etc.. you even pay for every day you do in jail.