FBI Stats Show Crime Down, Sentences Up
by AFA Journal
August 10, 2005
(AgapePress) - It's not always easy for cultural observers to explain why certain trends occur, but in the case of violent crime, the positive trends might be best explained by the fact that more criminals are winding up in prison -- and staying there.With the exception of 2001, violent crime has declined in each of the last 12 years, according to the FBI. Total crime rates dropped 33 percent in that period, while violent crimes dropped a staggering 60 percent.
One possible reason for those declining rates? In an article in Forbes magazine, Dan Seligman said, "There's a stunningly simple explanation for the huge drop in crime rates: The villains are behind bars."
Seligman said the get-tough approach has resulted in increased incarceration for criminals. "Today's jail and prison population of 2.1 million is 53 percent above the 1993 number and roughly triple the 1984 number," he said, adding, "The connection of incarceration to crime rates is hard to ignore."
Also addressed in his Forbes article was the argument, made by some who oppose the get-tough approach, that police are simply locking away more "harmless folks" like those arrested on minor drug offenses.
Seligman said that is partly true because such offenses do factor into the increase in incarceration. However, he argued, "the 'nonviolent' prison population is indeed sizeable, but it isn't harmless." In fact, Seligman said, one study showed that 95 percent of those being released after serving time for nonviolent offenses had an arrest history prior to their drug arrest.
"On average they had 9.3 prior arrests and about a third of these had been for violent crimes," he said. "The fact is that a sizeable proportion of criminals sentenced for nonviolent offenses like buying dope is, in fact, chronically violent."
This article appeared in the August 2005 issue of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.
