by David Keene and Randy Hicks
The criminal justice debate is often divided into two camps: “Tough on Crime” and “Soft on Crime.” What we need, however, is “Smart on Crime” – a set of policies that makes a distinction between nonviolent, low-risk offenders and violent, career criminals.
In November 2011, the bipartisan Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform for Georgians released a series of “Smart on Crime” recommendations to the state legislature. If enacted, these proposals will begin to transition the Peach State away from expensive prison-centric policies for nonviolent, low-risk offenders – a shift that conservatives in Georgia and across the country are ready to get behind.
With nearly 56,000 inmates, Georgia’s prison population has doubled in just two decades – and so have the costs. In FY1990, the corrections system cost Georgia taxpayers $492 million. Today, the system drains $1 billion from the state budget annually. If changes aren’t made, projections indicate the prison population will grow by another 8 percent in the next five years, forcing taxpayers to spend an additional $264 million.
It is important to note, this expanding prison population is the result of a distinct set of problematic policies that have placed more and more offenders behind bars and kept them there for longer. While we can all agree that violent, career criminals need to be in prison, many of those behind bars have committed minor, nonviolent crimes that would be better addressed through rehabilitation and treatment programs, probation, and other alternative sanctions.
There is also a revolving door problem. Today in Georgia, nearly one in three former inmates is reconvicted of a crime within three years of release, a rate that has remained unchanged in the last decade.
In an attempt to avoid the “soft on crime” label, policymakers in Georgia and throughout the country have failed to enact “smart on crime” policies, but necessity breeds innovation. As budget shortfalls grow across the nation, even law-and-order states have begun to look towards reforming the criminal justice system for nonviolent, low-risk offenders. It is a trend we’ve seen spread across the country.
In 2007, for example, Texas politicians faced a 5-year projected shortfall of 17,000 prison beds, but rather than feeding taxpayer dollars into a broken system, Texas adopted a package of reforms, including incentive-based funding for local communities to strengthen their probation and parole systems. Two years later, Texas opted to enhance proven community corrections approaches, including drug courts, and invested in community treatment facilities for people with mental health and substance abuse issues. As a result, the Lone Star State avoided $2 billion in prison construction costs and has witnessed the crime rate fall to the lowest point since 1973.
Texas isn’t alone. In fact, each of the 19 states that reduced incarceration rates between 1999 and 2009 saw their crime rates fall as well.
The Council’s recommendations, based on proven strategies from Texas and other states, are an excellent first step towards meaningful criminal justice reform in Georgia. These recommendations will begin to control corrections costs, hold offenders and the government accountable and, most importantly, improve public safety.
Known to be tough on spending and uncompromising about public safety, conservatives have played a tremendous role in bringing innovative policies to the forefront of the corrections debate. We have joined Grover Norquist, Jeb Bush, Ed Meese, Ralph Reed, Larry Thompson and others in supporting an initiative called Right on Crime. This group has brought together conservative leaders across the country who are passionate about this issue and eager to see our criminal justice system work more efficiently.
As taxpayers and as conservatives, we are encouraged to see Georgia move in the right direction on crime.
[David Keene is the former chairman of the American Conservative Union. Randy Hicks is president and CEO of the Georgia Family Council. Both have signed on to Right on Crime’s Statement of Principles. For more information, visit www.rightoncrime.com.]
