ATI Programs, Not High Incarceration Rates, Help Lower Crime

The Washington Post editorial board weighed in on the issue of cutting prison costs recently, arguing, like us, that it is smart policy. In a letter submitted to The Post, LAC's director and president, Paul N. Samuels, thanks the editorial board for its support, but disputes the paper's assertion that record levels of incarceration have helped to reduce crime:

Thank you for highlighting the great value to our nation of reducing imprisonment (“Cutting prison costs is a worthy cause,” April 17.) As you point out, high rates of incarceration, a key marker of the ineffective “tough-on-crime” strategies of the past few decades, have been proved, time and again, to both waste taxpayer dollars and harm minority communities disproportionately.

But there is no evidence that record incarceration rates are lowering crime in this country. Quite the contrary, New York State, by supporting a large and effective network of alternative-to-incarceration (ATI) and reentry programs, has enjoyed the steepest plummet in both crime and incarceration rates of any large state over the past decade. And with ATI programs averaging $11,000 per individual, compared with prison costs of $55,000, the state is also saving many tens of millions of dollars. These simultaneous reductions in crime, incarceration, cost and racial inequality are the reasons that reducing incarceration is now being embraced across the political spectrum.

Paul N. Samuels
Director and President, Legal Action Center

Read the original editorial here, and voice your support for ATI programs!