An editorial entitled “Held prisoner” suggests: “If Lancaster County can’t afford to build more cells to relieve overcrowding at the county prison, and if Pennsylvania is struggling with soaring costs for state prisons, maybe it’s time to rethink our collective approach to crime and punishment.
“We’ve tried locking ’em up and throwing away the key, with limited effectiveness. The United States, with 5 percent of the world’s population, has 25 percent of the globe’s prisoners, ranking us No. 1. But incarcerating offenders hasn’t done much to slash rates of crime and recidivism. Jailing petty crooks simply teaches them how to be bigger, tougher crooks.”
WATCHDOG: The column’s facts and sentiments are persuasive in themselves. However, others have made the same arguments for years and the media and governmental officials didn’t pay that much attention. So why are we suddenly taking concern over the plight of our fellow beings? MONEY. We are in the midst of the Great Recession and we must find less expensive ways of doing things.
Years ago a very smart fellow on the West Coast wrote that our drug policy reform efforts would not truly catch on until we were in the midst of another steep recession. He contended that facts and ethics do not penetrate the public psyche. But when things get tight, arguments concerning economy will find receptiveness. Events are proving him correct.
Incidentally, it was no coincidence that the repeal of the Constitutional Amendment prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages took place in 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression. A persuasive argument was that the sale of beer and spirits would create jobs and taxes.
A wag of the tail for the Sunday News. But shame on all of us for not taking note of the shortcomings of our judicial system until our ox is being gored!
