All the talk of police reform got me to wondering how the Europeans deal with issues of crime and punishment. And that got me looking at the crime and incarceration rates of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. This is what I found:
Mmmmm…I had naively thought Americans were more criminally-inclined than Europeans, or at least more violent. We’re actually middle-of-the-road, crime-wise. And we’re not more violent, just more homicidal, at least when compared with the larger European countries like France and the United Kingdom.
How about incarcerations rates?
Wow. Something is wrong with this picture.
A 2014 report by the National Research Council found that longer prison sentences were the main driver of increasing US incarceration rates since 1990. Now consider that, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, incarceration costs an average of more than $31,000 per inmate per year in the US (over $60,000 a year in some states).
It’s time to shorten those prison sentences and use some of the money saved towards whatever works to help ex-cons reintegrate and contribute to the tax base. They’ve already been punished by being locked up. Everyone deserves a shot at redemption. I’m thinking more help with education, training, housing, mental health, substance abuse, and jobs.
Then maybe someday we’ll be more like Germany.