Republican Policy Increases Prison Population 500%
Nevada faces budget problems and the answers being touted by conservatives aim only to serve a self-defeating purpose for our state. As social services are being cut under Republican policy decisions, we have been and will be seeing a rise in overall costs to our state budget and growth in our prison populations.
Over the past 30-40 years, the U.S. has actually seen a decrease in crime, particularly with violent crimes. Yet the populations of our prisons have skyrocketed. The percentage of Americans in the prison system has much more than doubled since 1985.
Evidence shows a link between incarceration rates and conservative policy. The CATO institute’s rating of “economic freedom” (a/k/a conservative tax and deregulation policies) shows a correlation with the spike in prison populations.
Incarceration rates are higher in states controlled by Republican legislatures and governors. Congressional policy making by Republicans in 1994 creating stricter mandatory minimum sentences has left the United States as the nation with the highest percentage of its population in prison in the entire world.
The war on drugs and the assault on the 4th amendment by conservatives (who is really attacking our constitution?) have played a large role in this. This explains how it is possible that a decrease in crime correlates with an increase in prison population. That is counter-intuitive. Essentially, people are being punished more for less, bottom line.
Mental Health patients in Nevada can look forward to being put in prison as these programs to house them are cut because we here in Nevada are not willing to institute an adequate revenue structure for our state’s services. In essence, we are cheap.
These “business friendly” policies of low taxes have backfired on Nevada. Our education system is suffering; we have one of the highest crime rates in the country, and the costs of maintaining our prison system is growing by the day. It’s getting problematic because we have the lowest guard to inmate rate in the nation.
Businesses don’t want to move to a state like that. We need to be people friendly to be business friendly. Conservative policy makers will need to step out of the ideological box and into the reality of what actually makes a business friendly environment.
With a poor education system and high drop-out rate, we can expect more costs related to crime and prisons in this state. We spend the money now, or we can spend even more later.
|
Justin is the publisher The Nevada View, which has earned the recognition in the Washington Post’s “Best State-Based Political Blogs,” as well as being awarded the “Most Valuable Blogger Award” by the local CBS affiliate in 2011. Justin is also an associate at the Ramirez Group in Las Vegas. Follow him on Twitter @McAffee |
11 Responses to Republican Policy Increases Prison Population 500%
Leave a Reply
We’re Also Here!
Since the outlaw of drugs started in 1906 under Theodore Roosevelt who was a Progressive republican with the pure food and drug act. It was Roosevelt who also argued for universal healthcare. The subsequent laws have all sought to prevent people from harming themselves and have come from democrat progressives and republican progressives alike. These people are wanting slaves who have no knowledge of their slavery.
The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914, which is the start of the war on drugs was signed by Woodrow Wilson. A well known Progressive and certified LIAR. (See presidential campaign 1916 WW1) Who by the way the man who segregated blacks and whites in Government, the Post Office and the Military. It is progressives like the Roosevelt(s), Wilson, Obama and alike that you need to look to for the restrictions of rights in this country.
It’s not an R or D thing, It’s those (progressives) who would control you against those (True conservatives) who would let you live free. Now if you are saying to your self what has this got do with incarceration rates, plenty.
Since the Progressives made second class citizens out of Blacks and cut off schools and opportunities for blacks, and now forces them to be dependent on the government through welfare,
AFDC and other programs. All programs that stain the soul into immobility and kill the spirit. That is how drug dealing and violence became a way of life. Progressives are responsible for all of these things. It serves their purposes.
So since now we have many progressive congressmen ask yourself why do they not revise the laws? It’s because it suits them to keep people in jail. After all they made the laws, Ask yourself why they only give you lip service if you even dare to ask the question. And that’s IF they deign to answer your question. It’s because they “know better”. Did you like thier answer?
Tony,
If you are saying you are a Goldwater conservative who abhors the religious right, then I will give you credit for that. I would also give you credit for pointing out that both parties have engaged in the mistakes that have led to a horrible prison situation.
However, this convoluted argument pegging everything on “progressives,” and further making claims that welfare “stains the soul,” is just absurd and completely one-sided. We might be able to have a conversation if there were a more reasonable acceptance of the facts as they are. One being that the Republican Party has led the war on drugs and the 4th Amendment for as long as anyone I know can remember.
By the way, I think the war on drugs serves the wealthy and large industry interests much more than “progressives.” For one, progressives may have been segregationists in 1915, but haven’t been since the 1940s. The GOP took over that role after that. The war on drugs is a defacto segregation, waged primarily by conservatives these days.
If you look at why marijuana is illegal, it has much more to do with all the industries that can’t compete with the products that could be produced with hemp. Hemp seed oil was considered a major threat to petroleum and many other powerful and wealthy interests.
So once again, you are protecting the interests of, and/or covering for, less than one percent of the population. That’s becoming a trend for you.
So, let me get this straight. Crime is dropping and more people are in prison, and this means that the policy is a FAILURE?!?
Simple cause and effect. Take the criminals off the street and crime drops.
Cracky McCrackhead can’t hold a job, and he needs his fix. Your new TV solves his problem. Lock up Mr. McCrackhead, and you get to keep your TV.
Only a libtard could fail to see this.
@Adam: When crime is high, we expect MORE prisoners because more crime = more prosecution, and more people sent to prison. This isn’t complicated, and I’m sorry that it is confusing you.
Do you realize that we have more prisoners than China does?
The reality right now is we have MORE people going to prison for longer, for smaller crimes. Thick headed conservatives think spending all our tax dollars investigating, prosecuting, and incarcerating is better than programs that help people go to school and do things that reduce people’s chances of committing crimes and winding up in prison.
China has a homogeneous society and control of their borders. We have a number of permanent underclass groups who reject education, form gangs, and are raised in a socialist system where the government fills the role of the father. They have learned to expect everything free. Small wonder they turn to crime. As a victim of burglary, where family heirlooms were stolen, including a painting of my late father done by my late mother, I say life in prison for the lot of them. If you were never taught to keep your hands off other people’s property, you need to be separated from society on a permanent basis.
Of course you are a typical liberal, with no concept of cause and effect.
Here in California we are about to do a very empirical experiment. Liberal judges have ordered that we must release a huge number of criminals to ease prison overcrowding. When the crime rate jumps, I will not be holding my breath for an apology from you.
The real problem is that the GOPs are motivated to increased prison populations because of privately owned for-profit prisons.
I don’t advocate a socialist agenda, but one of the only good socialist policies would be the gvmnt takeover of the prison system. Private companies give kickbacks to the cops to jail people so that they can get more money from the state. Whether they actually committed a real crime or not doesn’t matter as much when there’s very real cash flowing.
The war on drugs has been lost for decades. The Republican solution is to throw them all in jail, conveniently forgetting that there is a cost to that we all must bear. Science minds continue to do research, looking for “that” switch in the brain that will enable us to once and for real, start dealing with addiction effectively.
However, Republicans continue to slash health and human services budgets, which means research is among the first to get hit.
It is always so interesting to me that Republicans forget their human-ness. It comes crash landing on them when it is their son who is arrested for drugs or their daughter bleeding from the illegal abortionist or their wife dying of the illness that research could have prevented.
It might be interesting to look at places with low prison populations (and low recidivism rates), as well as a functioning business environment – to see what is already working other places, and try to analyze why it is.
Isn’t it already common knowledge that liberals are soft on crime? Did it really require a 400 word opinion piece to reverse engineer that well worn platitude?
And it is already common knowledge that conservatives can’t read, so i won’t comment further.
Pingback: Tweets that mention Prisons and Costs Grow Under Conservative Policy: Nevada faces budget problems and the answers being touted by c... -- Topsy.com