Ten Deadly Myths About Crime and Punishment in the United States (From Criminal Justice System: Politics and Policies, Seventh Edition, P 473-491, 1998, George F. Cole and Marc G. Gertz, eds. -- See NCJ-185991)

• NCJ Number: 186012
• Author(s): Charles Logan; John J. DiIulio Jr.
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: Wadsworth Publishing Co
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Collected Work
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: From Charles H. Logan and John J. DiIulio, Jr., "Ten Deadly Myths about Crime and Punishment in the U.S.," Wisconsin Interest 1 (Winter/Spring 1992), pp. 21-35.

Annotation

The authors identify and rebut 10 myths about crime and punishment in the United States, noting that, during the past two decades, conservatives have mounted a challenge to the liberal crime and justice policies that dominated the 1960's and 1970's.

Abstract

The 10 myths are as follows: (1) crime is caused by poverty, chronic unemployment, and other socioeconomic factors; (2) in the 1980's, the United States enacted "get tough" crime legislation and went on an "incarceration binge" to deal with criminals; (3) prisons hold large numbers of petty offenders who should not be there; (4) prisons are filthy, violence-ridden, and overcrowded human warehouses that function as schools of crime; (5) the criminal justice system is permeated by racial discrimination; (6) prisons are prohibitively expensive; (7) interventions by activist judges have improved prison and jail conditions; (8) the United States has the most punitive criminal justice system in the world; (9) alternatives to incarceration are not adequately used; and (10) punishment is bad. 51 notes