Perhaps our eminent Governor should take a moment out of her daily routine of acting as mini-mouse in protecting Connecticut’s good white suburban population from its career criminals, parolees and the like, to read a report officially released today. [Or alternatively lock up the Career Corporate Criminals who truly ravage the security of Connecticut’s homeland and release those imprisoned and victimized by her system of (in)justice!… Ah but I digress as usual]. This report is by the JFA Institute titled “Unlocking America: Why and How to Reduce America’s Prison Population.” To highlight a few pertinent points:

Section II. Three Key Myths about Crime and Incarceration:

These three main myths are:

  1. There are “career criminals” we can identify and whose imprisonment will reduce crime;
  2. Tougher penalties are needed to protect the public from “dangerous” criminals
  3. Tougher penalties will deter criminals

SOUND FAMILIAR???

Regarding Rell Myth Number 1, the report states:

One of the primary justifications for lengthy sentences is that we can identify the “career criminals” or “violent predators” who commit most of the serious crime and who are not deterred or rehabilitated by short sentences or alternative punishments to incarceration. These people, it is argued, must be “incapacitated” for long periods of time to reduce crime significantly. However, scientific efforts to develop methods for identifying career criminals have failed. Criminologists have been unable to develop practical and reliable methods to select those who will become career criminals. Attempts to incarcerate based on any predictive criteria will inevitably end up incarcerating a large number of people who do not persist in serious crime. As advocated later in the report, sentencing should not be based on what we think a person will
do but rather on what they have done and in proportion to the seriousness of the crime.

Regarding longer incarceration and detrimental parole actions, the report notes:

The facts indicate that placing large numbers of people in prison and jail or on probation and parole for long periods of time is not an effective crime control strategy. One study found that after imprisonment exceeded a certain tipping point, it became counter-productive. When too many men are removed from a community, family and social life are destabilized, leading to higher crime rates.

Key point Heir Honorable Governor “lock the bastards up” Rell is that last sentence above! Oh yeah, I forgot, they are poor or men of color so you say to hell with their communities and families.

Finally in Section 1 under Crime and Incarceration the report notes:

DID PRISON EXPANSION CUT CRIME?
Proponents of prison expansion have heralded this growth as a smashing success. But a large number of studies contradict that claim. Most scientific evidence suggests that there is little if any relationship between fluctuations in crime rates and incarceration rates. In many cases, crime rates have risen or declined independent of imprisonment rates. New York City, for example, has produced one of the nation’s largest declines in crime in the nation while significantly reducing its jail and prison populations. Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio, and Massachusetts have also reduced their prison populations during the same time that crime rates were declining.

Sadly if Rell and the CGA have their way, Connecticut will no longer be one of four states that have reduced their prison populations. Though I am an optimist and do feel that folks like Rep. Mike Lawlor and Sen Andrew McDonald will read such a report and concur with its findings; and assure that Connecticut will not become a leader in the capitalistic arena for racial enslavement so readily espoused by our white, wealthy, suburban neocons/neolibs here in CT!

And of course please do attend the Judiciary public hearing on Tuesday Nov 27th at 1:00 p.m. in Room 2E, L.O.B. SUBJECT MATTER: Criminal Justice Reform

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