NCJ Number
86116
Journal
Working Papers Magazine Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: (May/June 1982) Pages: 26-35
Date Published
1982
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Conservative ideology regarding crime is critically examined, with emphasis on the deficiencies of increased incarceration as a means of reducing or controlling crime.
Abstract
Although violent crime has deeply affected the way Americans live, the conservative thinking which has supplanted previous views on crime is not supported by the literature. The 1981 report of the Reagan Administration's Task Force on Violent Crime considers crime to be the result of such factors as the weakening of family and community ties and the spread of attitudes which favor immediate gratification over deferred gratification. Despite the Task Force's emphasis on the limits of what government can do to deal with these problems, it proposed such government interventions as modifying the exclusionary rule and limiting the use of bail. It also called for $2 billion in Federal money to be used by the States in building and rehabilitating prisons. The rightist analysis fails to account for the facts that the United States has both the highest violent crime rates and one of the most punitive systems of criminal justice in the developed world. The analysis also fails to suggest rewards for legitimate behavior as one way of dealing with crime. Moreover, proposals for increasing incarceration ignore the research showing that even drastic increases in incarceration would have only a limited effect on crime. However, methods are available for reducing crime, some of which would cost little or nothing while others would require significant changes in social and economic policy. For the second part of this article, see NCJ 86117.