The True Cost of Putting Criminals Back on the Streets

Background:  With all of the movements aimed at releasing convicts from prison, you think there would be at least a passing discussion of the impact on such efforts.  Well, we have the largest compilation of statistics related to recidivism of released prisoners in history.  The Bureau of Justice Statistics (a subset of the Department of Justice) looked at the rates of reoffending for 401,288 prisoners released from 30 states.  The findings have been largely ignored by the pop culture advocates.  When looking at the results, you’ll see why.

The Results:  The mammoth study found the following alarming facts:

         -After release, a prisoner was arrested on average 5 times

-44% of prisoners were rearrested within 1 year of release

         -83% of prisoners were arrested during the study period

         -77% of drug offenders were arrested for a non-drug crime

The Takeaway:  Reformers promote releasing prisoners without acknowledging the consequences of putting these offenders back in society.  And each of these “arrests” is a euphemism for victimizing someone in society.  Simply reciting the “cost” of incarceration (these reported costs are vastly misleading) is only half of the issue.  We must recognize the “cost” of releasing these offenders back into our communities.  It would be a wonderful world if we could just release prisoners and they did not continue to victimize society – but this is simply the utopia of think tanks and student unions, not the reality of actions with consequences (i.e., the real world).