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Despite claims by some, schools wouldn't benefit, but crime would increase
.Former state Rep. Bill Konopnicki presents a false choice based on selective data in claiming Arizona's investments in public safety have come at the expense of education ("State can save money by reducing prison population," My Turn, March 3). Overwhelming evidence and history clearly prove that we do not have to rob the criminal-justice system to cover the legitimate costs of education. Both are constitutional duties and responsibilities for Arizona.
Konopnicki is correct in noting that Arizona is seeing a decline in its prison population for the first time. Yet this is not because we're releasing more prisoners. It's primarily because fewer people are being sent back to prison for minor or technical probation violations. In parroting the popular fallacy that releasing more prisoners would free up funds for education, Konopnicki ignores the reality that putting inmates on the street would increase crime and the attendant costs on society.
His misguided idea also begs the question: Who should be released? Konopnicki states that "nearly 20 percent of our prison population are non-violent offenders." But he ignores the fact that this "non-violent" population includes people convicted of drug trafficking, multiple or aggravated DUIs, child molestation and other offenses classified as Dangerous Crimes Against Children. Apparently, Konopnicki is eager to welcome these people into his neighborhood. But most Arizonans would shudder at the thought, which is why there is strong support for truth-in-sentencing laws that keep these offenders behind bars.
In focusing only on the cost of incarceration, Konopnicki overlooks the tremendous savings Arizona has enjoyed by preventing repeat offenders from committing additional crimes. Research data compiled by the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys' Advisory Council found that Arizona's strengthened sentencing statutes have led to the incarceration of an estimated 3,100 additional offenders in Maricopa County since 2005 who would not have otherwise been imprisoned. Based on cost-of-crime models of leading crime economists, keeping these offenders off the streets prevented 98,038 additional crimes and generated a cost savings of more than $360 million dollars that would otherwise have been spent on crime-related damages to people and property.
Reading Konopnicki's argument, one might conclude that prison is the default for non-violent offenders in Arizona. In fact, our state has been a leader in offering prison alternatives such as substance-abuse treatment and diversion programs to most first- and second-time offenders. Konopnicki has it backwards when he suggests we should follow Mississippi's example in this regard. The reality is that Mississippi is following ours. The truth about Arizona's truth-in-sentencing laws is that they have put the right people in prison for the right reasons: More than 95 percent of our incarcerated population are violent or repeat felony offenders.
Incapacitating these criminals is certainly one reason Arizona is enjoying a much larger drop in crime than the nation as a whole. Releasing prisoners will not save money. It will not make us safer. And it will certainly not help our education system. To argue otherwise is irresponsible and inconsistent with an intelligent public-policy-making process.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2012/03/16/20120316county-attorneys0317-releasing-prisoners-will-not-save-money.html#ixzz1pOFeu2qv
My comment:
And.......... so now, the prosecutors and the ALEC PRIDE empire strike at their own to keep their mission of mass incarceration intact. Funny how this works and how they pick and choose areas of the criminal justice system that have just been recently improved and still not in the growth stage it should be in order to "brag" about these recidivism numbers. They don't mention the quality of these returned prisoners but rather "fewer" returning to prison. They don't mention the failed mentally ill that move back into your communities without treatment. They don't mention the increased violence inside prisons, the homicide and scuicides and assaults on staff that cost us $$ beyond what is allocated by the legislature. This is how the public is bam booozled by slick talking and slipperly slope walking people who want more prison beds at the expense of education, our children and burdening the taxpayers with a 'money pit" that has no bottom .... yet.. I think that is what former state Rep. Konopnicki was trying to say before "assassinated" by his own kind in Arizona. It's time to start believing those brave enough to tell the truth instead of those who spin their own truth and agenda.Did you notice the sarcasm, the fear factors and the condescending attitude when someone who is smart, intelligent coureous and has the knowledge what he talks about is treated by these groups? I know Rep Konopnicki from down in Safford when I was a deputy warden and he took the time, the effort, the research and the truth to put this together because he saw first hand the wasteland called Arizona prison industrial complex that is growing and asking more $ each year for a mission that is failing and keeping political appointees alive with funding through both public and privat prison enterprises. Open eyes wide open people, you are getting a snow job and not just in the northern parts of the state but all the way down to Yuma and Douglas too.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2012/03/16/20120316county-attorneys0317-releasing-prisoners-will-not-save-money.html#ixzz1pOFI5DBS
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