Billions are spent on incarceration. Why not put some of this into programs to help prevent crime?

Question

Children who grow up in homes without adequate clothing or food are at greater risk to leave school. Why not allocate more tax dollars towards prevention? Should we be lobbying for a change, since prisons have proven unsuccessful for many years?

Answer 1

A great many of the prison population came from bad homes and home life. Abuse and neglect. Anybody can be a parent when they have the right equipment...anatomically. Being a parent doesn't ensure a mentally or physically healthy child.
But, giving a child hope, and coming through can keep a child off the track to prison.
The foster care system should be heavily funded to keep children out of abusive homes and off the street. With a safe environment, and people whose only goal is to keep these kids safe and healthy, the turnover rates in the prisons would drop dramatically. Teach a kid that he or she is worth saving and a life of crime won't be appealing. Everyone wants to do good and be good, it's just very hard when there's no net out there to catch them if they are falling.

We pay taxes to make the world we live in a better place...if we put our focus on the children of today, we can ensure a better tomorrow. Don't we owe the next few generations at least a possibility of a safer world to live in?

We aren't willing to keep building prisons to house the prisoners already in the system, so they get out early, do more damage, recruit from the disadvantaged, homeless, and runaways.

Many runaways prostitute themselves to be able to eat, and do drugs because they can't stand what they are doing. If there were places to go, safe houses, just think of how many peoples' lives could be saved!

Answer 2

Your heart is in the right place, but there is no way to put your plan into action, and there is a very slim chance for it to work. America has tried crime prevention programs, and obviously, they have done little good. I'm sure if you think back, you will remember a couple (Take a bite outta crime, etc.).

If we put more tax dollars into helping the underprivileged, a variety of things will happen. First off, the money will have to come from somewhere - where can it come from? Healthcare? Our defense budget (while we're at war and beefing up our counter terrorism security)? Our education system? There really just is not any money for this. We can't take it from our prison spending either because like it or not, we NEED to spend the money on jails because of the way the current system works. Second, this will encourage people to be jobless. If someone is busting their back to get by, and then they see other people sitting around, getting money, shelter, and free provisions from the government, what kind of motivation would they have to work? The answer is that they will not have any motivation and thus will go unemployed. Or even worse, they could take on an illegal job, so they collect both unemployment and money on the side. This would perpetuate the problem.

Also, who says that prisons are unsuccessful? Like it or not, there will always be people who will try and steal or kill in order to benefit themselves. There will always be drugs. There is nothing anyone can really do about it. There are people in the world who are just flat out bad people. The only thing we can really do is try and prevent these people from harming the innocent or influencing people to be like them, thus we have the prison system. I realize that many people may have been forced into a life of crime (ie the 17 year old kid selling drugs to support his family cuz his mom's a crackhead), and it sucks to lose people to that kind of life, but no matter what, it will always exsist (even in your proposed system). The best thing you or I can do is raise a family with a strong sense of morality and right and wrong. Also, we need to educate our children about the dangers of that kind of lifestyle. No government spending can replace that kind of an upbringing.

Answer 3

I think there are alot of issues at play here....

Firstly, there is the issue of children growing up without adequate homes (roof over their heads, food, clothing, etc). Without even delving into the repercussions later on in life, this is a major problem unto itself. And has not been adequately recognized or addressed by 'The Greatest Nation in the World'. There is great apathy in the country when people concern themselves with 'socialism' instead of recognizing that a sizable percentage of the country is in desperate need of the very basics which whould be afforded to all citizens, including healthcare.

The other issue is education. It, too, is sadly lacking. Inadequate funding, low payment for teachers and slack curriculae - combined with apathetic parents who no longer work on homework with their kids or take an active interest in their learning - all work together to create a system that is failing the future generations of Americans.

The final issue is the justice and prison system. Corruption is rampant in both.

So...now to your question...tying it altogether. America needs to take care of its own. Americans need to recognize that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and stop worrying so terribly much about themselves and focus on their countrymen. If everyone was looking out for others, we would ALL be cared for... Feeding, clothing and housing children HAS to come to the forefront. Spending millions EACH DAY on a civil war in another country while the homeland suffers is NOT the American way! Education HAS to be recognized as the foundation for the country's future. And people need to take a more active role in ensuring that their governmental representatives are truly representing their interests in terms of the judicial system. You get the government you deserve...and right now, that makes a HUGE statement.

Spending money on programs to prevent crime is NOT the answer in my opinion....if more money and attention was spent on the issues - homelessness, education and the judicial system - prevention would take care of itself. IMHO...

Answer 4

Most of our county jails (federal, too) hold people who are incarcerated on drug (or drug-related) charges. At the county level it's often for possession of, and at the federal level for manufacturing and/or dealing. Also incarcerated are those who have stolen other's identities, forged checks, stolen property, etc., more often than not these crimes are also related to drugs. What we really need are more (and more effective) drug treatment and rehabilitation programs. Prevention programs are great, but they aren't very effective...at least the ones we've tried using so far. We need treatment and rehabilitation programs that can be implemented while those who are incarcerated are still in jail, or for possession charges, as an alternative to jail. Drug court works pretty well, but it is not enough. People with serious drug problems need treatment that extends beyond when they are in jail. They need an environment that they can go home to that is conducive to them staying clean and sober. I think prevention programs are great, but we need to study what works and what does not, because in this country, the programs we've had have not been very effective. I think we also need to focus more on mental health treatment (dual diagnosis: drug treatment and mental health disorders) of those in our prison/jail population. Most have one if not both disorders, and are at high risk for re-offending if left untreated. I think it would help if we took a good look at what has worked well in other countries. Our drug laws need reforming. There's something very wrong when most of our incarcerated are locked up because they suffer from an addictive disease and need treatment that they never get when their in jail. In fact being locked up (and having a felony record because of drugs) makes it even harder for them to obtain legal employment once they get out. I don't think prison is the only (or best answer) for some (not all) drug-related crimes.

Answer 5

People turn to crime for other reasons than just growing up without adequate clothing. For those people in jail who committed crimes of abuse, there were usually abused as children, so they grow up to abuse. I agree that more money should be spent on preventing and ending child abuse. A child who grows up believing in themselves has less chance of committing a crime.

Answer 6

The government has also poured billions into the idea of preventing crime....so far it hasn't worked. VALUES are what's taught at home, not adequate clothing or food. There are many, many social programs for kids after school, etc. The idea of not being a responsible, contributing person comes out of the home.

Answer 7

Our society likes punishment, you'll notice that the majority of prisons are not set up for rehabilitation, quite the reverse, they are set up to punish and create better criminals, by allowing violence and rape to flourish in prisons. Prisons are totally illogical and unproductive, but this is a Christian nation (according to Bush and the conservative Republicans) and we so like an eye for an eye and all that rot.

Prisons have become big business, since our country incarcerates more prisoners than just about any other country, about 2 million last figure I saw. We also like to imprison non violent prisoners with violent offenders, and we like to imprison people for life for non-violent crimes, like drug abuse. Logic is not a part of the judicial system.

We also like to believe the myth that we have a just society, and that only guilty people are accused, and only guilty people are in prison. The obvious classism is ignored in this society. Even though the majority of those arrested, prosecuted and convicted are poor, black and male, this can't be because of classism, racism or sexism, it must be because these men are "just like that". How many wealthy white men are on death row, compared to poor, black males?

We do so like to throw our resources on useless, big dollar projects, that make the older generation feel safer, like prisons and wars, while our society's infrastructure falls apart, like our educational and health systems. We obviously could care less about the future generation or the lower-class and poor, since they get the least, and pay the highest rates of taxes proportionally. How ironic, that so much of the poor's tax dollars are going towards imprisoning other poor people.

The younger generation is going to be taxed to death to support an aging society that prefers to ignore the causes of our society's decline and likes to blame anyone who didn't start out with the advantages and priviledges that they were born with. They think they "deserve" what they were born with and still have, and obviously blame those that started out with less money, less education, less healthy neighborhoods, and are therefore doing poorly, since these people "deserve what they got". I don't see how anyone who pays taxes or is a child deserves a poor education, unsafe neighborhoods, and poor healthcare.

I see the unjustness of our system, I don't pretend all is well. And nothing will change for the better, until the blind admit the unfairness of our system, and agree to change the basis of our interactions from a souless society based on money, to a society based on the attempt to provide basic human services and basic justice to all, instead of making sure that only the ones who they think "deserves" justice, actually gets it. Personally, having experienced the "benevolence" of Christian charity, relying on it is not going to provide "salvation" for our society.

Answer 8

How are prisons unsuccessful? They've been keeping the uncivilized away from the rest of since the first one was built. By the way, the majority of kids who grow up hard,(like me) do not turn to crime.And what prevention methods are you referring to? More entitlement programs at tax payer expense? We can't take away from the corrections budget to finance these new freebies, so who's going to pay so some bleeding hearts can sleep good at night?

Answer 9

HELLO! someone who thinks the way I do. UNfortunantly the answers to this question is not easy. The work force job program is only for non violent in-mates. Mental health counseling is only for the court ordered. Any kind of reform is going to cost more money.

Answer 10

purchase my very own deepest military, weigh down the government. Make myself dictator, secede from US, make my very own regulations and instate dying penalty for minor offenses. There may well be no crime.