More Jail Time – Less Crime – Buz Blog

“If a deadly snake slithering around in a pre-school bit a child, would you box it up for a month as punishment, and then release it to prey upon the children once again?” ― Edward M. Wolfe, 

At least until 2021, the United States incarcerated a higher percentage of its people for crimes than any other nation. We’re talking about real crimes, not political violations that are deemed crimes by tyrannical regimes. There are many reasons for this. The US being the country that afforded its occupants the most freedom, it enables the most criminally inclined among us, the opportunity to take advantage of those who are weaker, less aware, unarmed or unable to defend themselves, their families or their property.

Also, our government has enacted social welfare laws that have decimated the nuclear family for poor people. It was an unintended consequence of these laws, but that’s what it did. As a result, many children grow up without fathers. Kids, particularly boys, who are raised without fathers, are very much more likely to do poorly in school, drop out, join gangs, use drugs and commit crimes. There are a host of other causes for crime, currently, the Soro’s prosecutors who refuse to prosecute many crimes. Those areas have created no cash bail, revolving doors where criminals are released shortly after being booked, woke legislation that lowers many felonies to misdemeanors, and lessening of prison sentences for those convicted, just to name a few.

Whatever the reason, the question is, what can we do to reduce crime? A look at the not too distant past provides answers that really worked. The yearly rates of crime compared to the yearly population of convicted criminals in state and federal prisons, is illustrative of what works. While incarceration rates have steadily risen since 1972, the rate of imprisonment increased at a higher rate in the late 1980s and 90s. Interestingly enough, the highest rate of reported crime was in 1991 and the next year started a continual decline until 2021.

This would indicate that, an increase in imprisoning criminals, lowers the number of crimes committed. It should be noted that other factors at that time effected a lowering of the crime rate. There were laws that increased sentences for certain crimes and a lot of states passed “Three strikes and you’re out” laws. Those laws had a noticeable effect on the recidivism of convicts. Recidivism is important because career criminals commit a majority of our crimes. In 2019, a study of the US prison population showed that 70% of prisoners released from prison had reoffended within 5 years. That statistic has been pretty consistent for decades. And that was just for the crimes for which they were caught. No one knows for sure how many crimes the crooks got away with before being caught.

There have been experimental programs that have been shown effective in reducing recidivism. Those that actually work in stopping or slowing down repeat offenses by convicts, should be expanded and put into effect in most prisons. These programs should not be confused with the so-called prison reforms and criminal justice reforms that release alleged “non-violent” offenders prior to serving their full sentences. (Many dope dealers are considered “non-violent”. Ask any experienced patrol or narcotics officers if most of the dope dealers they arrested had guns or would have used them if their dope, sales area or freedom were threatened.) Releasing prisoners to alleviate progressive guilt has unleashed a tsunami of crime and crooks in Democrat states. One can say, you get what you vote for.

If a government’s first obligation is the protection of its citizens, these “reforms” have produced the exact opposite. In the simplest of terms, the more crooks who are incarcerated, the safer the streets.