Lock 'em Up and Punish Them

Tyjen Tsai and Paola Scommegna wrote a piece on how our country is the most gung ho on incarcerating people. Well, what they really said was that since 2002 the U.S. has had the highest incarceration rate in the world. For comparable countries the incarceration rate is about 100 prisoners for 100,000 population; our is 5 times that, 500 per 100,000. That amounts to approximately 1.6 million prisoners in 2010 according to the Bureau of Statistics.

In particular men comprise 90% of those in jail. They are mainly young men in the 20’s and 30’s. They are poorly educated, 70% never completed high school. They are more likely to be black or Latino; blacks 3,074 per 100,000 and Latinos 1,258 per 100,000, whites 459 per 100,000.

Where you live is important as well

Male and Female Imprisonment Rates by Region, 2010

	Total	Male	Female
United States	500	943	67
Northeast	296	577	27
Midwest	389	735	53
South	552	1,039	78
West	418	772	60

The South is know for being “tough on crime.” And, of course, everything in Texas is bigger; they rank second in rate of incarceration with tough sentencing.

Then there is this chart showing little change in our country:

Percentage of Male Civilian Incarceration, by Race and Education, Ages 20-34

	1990	2000	2008
White Men	1.1	1.6	1.8
Less Than High School	3.8	7.7	12.0
High School Graduate	1.4	2.3	2.0
Some College	0.4	0.3	0.3
Black Men	8.3	11.2	11.4
Less Than High School	19.6	30.2	37.2
High School Graduate	7.1	11.7	9.1
Some College	2.9	2.1	2.1

Source: Becky Pettit, Invisible Men: Mass Incarceration and the Myth of Black Progress (New York: Russell Sage Foundation: 2012).

No matter how you look at we seem bent on jailing lots of people in the name of justice. But is a jailing lot of folk justice or more to the point does it solve a problem. Criminologists have told us for years prisons are great training ground to learn criminal behavior but they don’t to well in rehabilitation.

The model to copy appears to be Norway. Norway has a great economy, universal health care, great schools, stable social security system and their prisons are models for what to do. U.S. prisons are basically run by the prisoners, gangs with lots of violence. In Norway prisons are known for humane practices and their recidivism rate (repeat offenders) is 20% in comparison to our 50 to 60%. We tough on crime folk would look at the jails as just too cushy. They have libraries, jogging trails, sound studios, cooking courses, and a visiting house outside the prison for they can be with their families. The cells are more like dorm rooms. They emphasis rehabilitation rather than punishment focusing on respect and human rights. Guards don’t have guns and respect the inmates who they see as pupils. Overall their jails seek to instill confidence and skills for successfully transitioning into society. Now all this costs big bucks but in the long run it saves money. Pundits believe there is little chance for such a system to work or exist in our country.

The point I am trying to make is that the Norway system and others like it solve and problem, they work and our don’t. Their system also seems far more consistent with the what Jesus taught, Matthew 5:38-42 (MSG)
³⁸ "Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.'
³⁹ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it.
⁴⁰ If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it.
⁴¹ And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life.
⁴² No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

We seem to think if someone hits your cheek, stomp on him. It doesn’t work. Will we be the eyeless toothless country or the country the builds up opportunities for all citizens?