One of the most important causes of crime is criminal "justice"

From the same survey as the previous post, here's a list of problems people being released from jail expect to face.

 

 

When people are released on probation or parole, the court often mandates that they receive substance abuse treatment. However, none of those other problems are ever addressed by court mandates or services provided by the criminal justice system. At the same time, people with criminal records have great difficulty finding employment, or housing, not just because they usually didn't have a lot of marketable skills or earning potential to begin with, but because most employers won't hire people with criminal records -- or even pending charges -- and people with criminal records are usually excluded from subsidized housing. So what is likely to happen to people who are out on the street, can't get a job, and can't get housing, who often have mental health and/or substance use disorders, may be estranged from their families? I think you can guess.

 

So why do people commit crimes in the first place (Ted Bundy and Bernie Madoff aside)? Believe it or not, a guy named Gary S. Becker, who won a Nobel Prize in economics, came up with something called the "economic theory of crime." Because the pseudo-science of economics -- which is really more akin to a religion than to a science -- accepts as one of its tenets of faith that people are "rational" economic actors, Becker concluded that criminals are "rational." People will violate the law if the expected value of the gains from crime, less (cost * risk) of possible punishment, exceeds the rewards of licit economic activity. The policy prescription is to make sure that crime doesn't pay by ramping up punishments. 

 

I hope I don't need to tell you why this ridiculous. Well before mass incarceration, blue-collar crime didn’t pay. Now the “wages” for, say, burglary, are pennies per hour. And people who shoplift or rob liquor stores aren’t thinking 5 years ahead. Just as important, most violent crimes aren’t instrumental at all. They’re personal disputes that escalate, or impulsive acts. They have zero financial reward. People who do commit crimes are characteristically present-oriented and impulsive, and have poor judgment. These are consequences of growing up in a high crime environment, neglectful or abusive parenting, and other disadvantages. But criminal justice involvement and incarceration aren't going to solve these problems, they just make them worse. 

 

Another reason why long sentences are counterproductive is that most people age out of criminal behavior. The human brain isn't fully developed until age 25 or so -- younger people generally have poorer impulse control and judgement than older people. The authorities generally recognize this with affluent white kids and they'll get a break for youthful hijinks and indiscretions. No such luck for the poor and non-white. So here's the summary:

 

 

 

So next time, I'll discuss what does work.