by Paul Brakke | Feb 27, 2018 | American Justice Reform, US Prison system
One of the most shameful aspects of prisons in the U.S. is that we incarcerate a far higher proportion of our population than any other country, six times more than the average in Europe, as illustrated in the chart below. We have 2.2 million in prison or jail...
by Paul Brakke | Feb 22, 2018 | American Justice Reform, US Prison system
In previous blogs I have talked about the importance of reducing costs in the prison system by reducing incarcerations and reducing recidivism. Here I want to provide a list of suggestions on how to reduce admissions and safely increase releases, including some...
by Paul Brakke | Feb 15, 2018 | American Justice Reform, US Prison system
Given that recidivism is a major source of crime and is one result of over-incarceration, the question becomes — what to do to reduce recidivism? There are several approaches that have been found to work, and I’ll describe them briefly here, followed by my...
by Paul Brakke | Feb 12, 2018 | American Justice Reform, US Prison system
Reducing recidivism is a key way to both reduce crime and costs, so any strategies to reduce recidivism, even if more costly in the near term, can be much more cost effective in the long term. It’s a subject I discuss at length in The Costly U.S. Prison System....
by Paul Brakke | Feb 8, 2018 | American Justice Reform, US Prison system
In my book: The Costly U.S. Prison System, I describe how the U.S. prison system costs billions more than necessary because of the high incarceration rate and long prison terms for non-violent offenders. Unfortunately, this tendency of a convicted criminal to return...
by Paul Brakke | Feb 5, 2018 | American Justice Reform, US Prison system
The U.S. prison systems costs too much, and the cost would be much less if we reduced the number of incarcerations. We can do that effectively and safely, as I discuss in my book The Costly U.S. Prison System. I’ll talk about some of the highlights here and other...
