Being tough on crime is a topic politicians all across the globe stress whenever they get the chance. From drug dealers to big bankers, politicians from the local level to the highest offices of the federal government love persecuting criminals.
Justin Ackerman | Argonaut
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and this attitude has created the world’s largest prison system. Thankfully, Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador is trying to reverse a trend that began in the 1980s.
The incarceration rate in the U.S. began an upward spiral during the ‘80s. According to the Bureau of Justice, in 1980 just under 400,000 people were incarcerated in federal prisons. During the next 31 years, that number rose significantly to approximately 2.3 million.
Many of these new prisoners were arrested for non-violent drug crimes. According to the same statistics, the number of drug crime offenders in prison went from 41,000 in 1980 to just under 500,000 in 2011.
These prisoners currently make up 48 percent of the federal prison population. Let that sink in, non-violent drug offenders make up nearly half of our prison population.
These growing numbers raise a lot of questions, and for the first time in a long time, the growing prison population seems to be becoming a topic of national discussion. Some of the more obvious problems include the price of keeping people in prisons, the work load on the court system and the struggles many convicts face when their term is over.
According to the Department of Justice, the average prisoner costs taxpayers anywhere from $20,000 to $35,000 a year. Which in total, costs tax payers billions of dollars every single year.
The incentive should be there, but fixing these problems hasn’t been a priority for many politicians. Fortunately, Labrador has cosponsored legislation which would help solve some of the massive problems facing the American prison system.
The proposed Smarter Sentencing Act would help decrease the prison population by lowering mandatory minimum sentencing for drug crimes. The bill would also give judges more discretion and allow them to keep non-violent offenders out of the system.
The bill doesn’t change much in Idaho, as mandatory minimum sentencing isn’t used in the state. All things considered, this legislation is a potential fix to many of the broken pieces of the American justice system.
This piece of legislation appeals to a wide variety of people and organizations, which should help it eventually work its way out of the House and to the president. Groups such as the NAACP, ACLU and even the conservative policy advocacy group Heritage Action for America support the reforms being proposed by Labrador.
If the bill becomes law, it will signal a shift in American policy, which will have some serious long-term benefits for all Americans. Keeping non-violent offenders out of prison will save Americans a serious chunk of money, and help our police force focus on more important problems.
Justin Ackerman can be reached at [email protected]