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Tough on crime populism not as popular any more

By Anthony Kelly - posted Thursday, 2 November 2006


One poll found that only 3 per cent of Californians believe that prison construction should be a priority. The last two times Californians voters were asked to approve prison construction bonds, they were overwhelmingly rejected.

One grassroots group, CURB or California’s United for Responsible Budget has been pointing out that “the more money we put into our already $8 billion prison budget, the more money is drained from schools, social services and existing independent community programs”.

Mandatory sentences were once seen as a panacea for virtually all crime in the US and heavily spruiked by every political candidate since Reagan. However, as the 25,000 members of Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) have found out, thousands of mainly black and Hispanic young people have been swept up for minor drug offences and are now serving incredible five, ten or even 20-year sentences.

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It seems that many Americans have noticed that prison populations have increased without anything like a proportional drop in the rate of crime. According to a poll commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) a majority of Americans, 61 per cent, now oppose mandatory sentences for nonviolent crimes. The poll reflected a strong dissatisfaction with the current mandatory system and a growing confidence in rehabilitation and alternative punishments for nonviolent drug offenders.

The “tough-on-crime” measures of the last quarter of the 20th century have helped balloon prison budgets at a time of falling revenues. As these financial crises reached epidemic proportions, US states began to look at smarter, less costly sentencing and correctional policies. Mandatory sentencing laws are now being repealed or rolled back across many American states in an attempt by policymakers to ease prison population pressures.

Seventeen states have eliminated mandatory sentencing laws altogether, or restructured other harsh penalties, choosing to treat rather than incarcerate people with substance abuse problems.

In the United Kingdom, the prison system is also close to breaking point. With all juvenile facilities full, almost 80,000 prisoners crowding every goal and police cell, the British Home Office is considering the early release of thousands of low-risk criminals.

But another realisation is seeping into the public consciousness. There are simply too many people, particularly young people, who should not be in prison at all. Some should be in hospitals for the mentally ill - many others still in community-based programs. Yet, according to one British prison governor, these extremely vulnerable young people are being crammed like sardines into a prison that can barely cope, simply because there is no-where else for them to go.

The Home Secretary in Britain is currently facing calls to shut down all women's prisons and cut the number of female prisoners from nearly 5,000 to just 100. Penal reformers have stated that female prisoners are suffering shocking levels of suicidal behaviour, sexual abuse, mental illness and drug addiction, and pressure on prison spaces means many have to be held far from families and friends.

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Community groups in the UK have also been battling to stem the rising tide of the black and minority ethnic prison population. Although they are no more likely to commit crime than any other groups, the imprisonment rate among black and ethnic groups has grown eight times faster than the white population over a five-year period.

Tony Blair's attempts this year to begin a fight back on law and order suffered a setback when one of his own advisers cast severe doubts on his claim that the criminal justice system was biased against the victim.

Ian Loader, director of criminology at the Oxford Centre for Criminology, accused the Government of relying too heavily on headline-grabbing pledges of new legislation and warned that this would not solve the problems it perceived on crime. Instead, Professor Loader recommended that the Government try to "reduce the political and media heat" on crime by finding, funding, delivering and explaining to people programs that work - such as on prison education, reassurance policing and better detection.

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About the Author

Anthony Kelly is the Policy Officer for the Federation of Community Legal Centre (Vic). The Federation of Community Legal Centres is part of a coalition of Victorian community, church and welfare groups coming together as a Smart Justice campaign to widen the debate about criminal Justice issues in the lead-up to the Victorian Election. For more information go to www.smartjustice.org.au.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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