What is justice? What do we want from our criminal justice system? In my experience as a prosecutor, people invariably say that they want offenders held accountable for their actions and they want to make sure the crimes never happen to anyone else. For some people, that means locking up criminals for as long as possible. I believe we need a more nuanced approach that focuses on solutions that are more effective, efficient and economical.
While incarceration is necessary in some cases, it is not a solution to all criminal cases; it is too expensive, ineffective and can cause more harm than good for our communities. Since 1970, the U.S. prison population has risen 700 percent, and today about 2.2 million Americans are incarcerated at a cost of $74 billion per year. People who leave prison have a 70 percent likelihood of committing a new crime within three years of their release (known as recidivism) and a 40 percent likelihood that they will violate parole or probation after their release.
Simply put, the numbers show us that incarceration breeds more criminal activity. Incarceration also creates deeply rooted social problems for our communities. The vast majority of incarcerated people are eventually released, and when they come back home, they are more likely to commit new crimes, they have decreased employment opportunities, lower earnings, family and child problems and much higher rates of health problems and reliance on public assistance and benefits.
Certain people do need to go to prison, but the criminal justice system has been sending too many people down this path. New assessment tools have become available to help the criminal justice system determine a person’s risk of future crime and need for intervention and rehabilitation by examining factors such as antisocial thinking and personality traits, peer and family networks, and substance abuse and mental-health issues. For those people found to be dangerous, antisocial, and representing a high risk of future criminal behavior, prison may be the most appropriate sentence. But for lower risk offenders or those whose crimes relate only to addiction to drugs or alcohol, alternatives to incarceration should be explored. According to research, the percentage of the prison population who are nonviolent drug offenders quadrupled between 1987 and 2001, from 5 percent of the prison population to 20 percent. Many of this group would be assessed as “low risk,” with studies showing that 71 percent of this group never went beyond simple possession and 74 percent have no history of violent crime. Is prison really the best sentence for these folks?
New sentencing alternatives are available to the criminal justice system and need to be used and expanded. Drug courts are one effective solution. In Drug Court, the idea is that if we can treat the drug addiction and help people access resources and supports, including access to in-patient treatment, intensive supervision and high accountability, we can help them free themselves of their addiction. Drug courts have proved to be very successful, showing a recidivism rate of 16.4 percent and cost about $4,300 per graduate. The drug court model can also be expanded into other “problem areas” including addressing those with mental-health or behavioral-health issues, the specific issues presented by veterans returning home to our communities and those with chronic and repeated drunken-driving problems.
Restorative justice is another effective alternative to incarceration. Restorative justice is based on the idea that if the offenders have to face the person or the community they have harmed, be held accountable and take responsibility for repairing the damage, they will be less likely to commit crimes, build empathy and have better understanding of how to live within a community. Restorative justice works for the victims, too, allowing them to vent their anger, pain and frustration directly at the offender, giving them some peace of mind and perhaps working toward forgiveness. In practical terms, restorative justice mainly takes the form of face-to-face meetings between a victim and offender, but can also be accomplished through community conferences where offenders must face the community and be held accountable for their actions. Restorative justice boasts a 95 percent satisfaction rate for those who go through the process and a 10 percent rate of recidivism for those who have successfully completed the program.
The criminal justice system needs to continue to be tough on those who commit crimes in our community, but we can be smarter and more effective by identifying the right people to be tough on, i.e., the most dangerous and most habitualized criminals. For the other 95 percent of the community, we need to expand use of these types of programs; they are more effective, more efficient and more successful than jail or prison.
Christian B. Champagne is the assistant district attorney with the 6th Judicial District. Reach him at christian.champagne@co.laplata.co.us.
