Michael Mitchell and Michael Leachman at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities have authored a new report,
Changing Priorities: State Criminal Justice Reforms and Investments in Education:
Most states’ prison populations are at historic highs after decades of extraordinary growth; in 36 states, the prison population has more than tripled as a share of the state population since 1978. This rapid growth, which continued even after crime rates fell substantially in the 1990s, has been costly. Corrections spending is now the third-largest category of spending in most states, behind education and health care. If states were still spending on corrections what they spent in the mid-1980s, adjusted for inflation, they would have about $28 billion more each year that they could choose to spend on more productive investments or a mix of investments and tax reductions.
Even as states spend more on corrections, they are underinvesting in educating children and young adults, especially those in high-poverty neighborhoods. At least 30 states are providing less general funding per student this year for K-12 schools than before the recession, after adjusting for inflation; in 14 states the reduction exceeds 10 percent. Higher education cuts have been even deeper: the average state has cut higher education funding per student by 23 percent since the recession hit, after adjusting for inflation. Eleven states spent more of their general funds on corrections than on higher education in 2013. And some of the states with the biggest education cuts in recent years also have among the nation’s highest incarceration rates.
This is not sound policy. State economies would be much stronger over time if states invested more in education and other areas that can boost long-term economic growth and less in maintaining extremely high prison populations. The economic health of many low-income neighborhoods, which face disproportionately high incarceration rates, could particularly improve if states reordered their spending in such a way. [...]
State incarceration rates have risen primarily because states are sending a much larger share of offenders to prison and keeping them there longer. States can reduce their incarceration rates—without harming public safety—by reclassifying low-level felonies to misdemeanors where appropriate, expanding the use of alternatives to prison (such as fines and victim restitution), shortening jail and prison terms, and eliminating prison sentences for technical violations of parole/probation where no new crime has been committed.
A number of states have enacted criminal justice reforms in recent years. Some have reduced prison populations sharply; reforms in New Jersey, New York, and California for example, helped drive down prison populations in each of those states by roughly 25 percent—while crime rates have continued to fall. In most states, though, reforms have not had a large impact on the size of prison populations, which remain extremely high nationally. [...]
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2011—Wisconsin firefighters union head ponders run against Scott Walker:
One of the outcomes of a political system in which big money is required to get elected to anything above local office is that elected officials are disproportionately wealthy, and working people end up underrepresented just in the matter of who is in the government, making decisions—never mind our under-representation at high-dollar fundraisers and meetings with lobbyists.
So, as the effort to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker gears up, it's interesting to hear that Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin President Mahlon Mitchell is considering a campaign to replace Walker. Mother Jones' Andy Kroll writes that:
Mitchell's role in the protests catapulted him into something of a celebrity among union members and activists in Wisconsin, especially considering that firefighters were exempted from Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union budget repair bill.
Now Mitchell is eyeing a bigger stage: the governor's mansion. In an interview with Mother Jones, he said he was "seriously considering a run" for governor in a potential recall election targeting Walker. He said he believes Wisconsinites are sick of professional politicians not following through on campaign promises, and that a populist candidate running against Walker stands a better chance of unseating the governor. The ideal candidate would be "able to talk with common people about common issues," Mitchell said. "Tell 'em what you can do and what you can't do."
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On
today's Kagro in the Morning show,
Greg Dworkin rounds up Ebola news, and the importance of a "big picture" response, both nationally and internationally. Local CT color on gun issues. Kaci Hickox isn't putting up with non-scientific quarantine rules. For the record: Jose Canseco's GunFAIL.
Armando joins us to discuss the
NYT piece on lobbying operations targeting state AGs (or AsG?). 42 mega-donors provide nearly a third of all super PAC funds. The much-discussed story of how the ACA has fared in Mississippi. More questions about MT's "Mailergate." Must read: A pre-K teacher reflects on lockdown drills. White House cyberattacked. The inevitable speculation about Harry Reid.
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