Juvenile Prisons

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One reason America as a whole–as opposed to its brightest lights– is beset in international competition is that the country misspends. It infamously has done so on housing assets, probably does on motor vehicles and arguably is feeding a bubble in college expense. But through government it also is plowing too much into the low end of the human experience: prisons. In fiscal 2006, the latest year available, federal, state and local governments spent $68 billion on “corrections,” according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, an arm of the U.S. Justice Department. Ten years before, that total was $41 billion. To some degree, these costs are uncontrollable: many correctional (sic) institutions are under court orders to address overcrowding,…show more content…
They have been joined by special-focus outfits such as Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which seeks to undo required lengthy sentences for nonviolent offenses such as drug crimes–a political quick-fix that has ruined young lives as surely as narcotics often do. Now a group of mostly conservative figures have joined in the fight. (They call their quest Right on Crime.) Not that these forces are in synch on all points–instances of judicial leniency, particularly for juvenile thugs, remain a rub–but the general drift and changes of heart are…show more content…
Figures from the National Association of State Budget Officers suggest that overall state corrections outlays dipped by 2.8% in fiscal year 2010. They would have fallen by more had not the federal “stimulus” program not infused the states with 44% more in subventions for this activity. In any case, reality is setting in at the ground level. And, I should note per a helpful reminder from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, that “corrections” as defined here and above includes probation and parole activity as well as incarceration. But that meaning of the overall trend line, I suggest, still
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