Measures of Association, Abortion, and Where Have all the Criminals Gone?

What Factors Cause Crime and What are the Best Criminal Justice Policies? Questions: (1)Are criminals natural-born? (2)Are they bred, so to speak, by genetics, bad parents or dire social conditions? (3)Are criminals’ choices rational, or are they driven by blind economic desperation? Robert Moffit of the Heritage Foundation: “Criminals make rational choices (utility estimations) about their line of work. They commit crimes because they weigh their chances and decide it is worth the risk.” Thus, the answer to crime is simple: “The criminal’s calculus must be altered; police and prisons must raise the price of crime by making apprehension sure and punishment swift and severe. That way, fewer people will see crime as a good choice. More and better policing and tougher prisons sentences are the most important policies.” This view dominated federal and state policy from the 1980s-present… ->

What are the Best Criminal Justice Policies? Fighting crime through public policy (more police and more prisons): explains approximately 40% of the drop in crime [30% prisons; 10% police] : fifteen-fold increase in the number of people incarcerated 2000: 2 million Americans (3% of all Americans in prison or under court supervision); 4 times as many people as in 1972, with half of the increase occurring in the 1990s Problem: roughly 16% of U.S. prison population is moderately to severely mentally ill

Early Legalizers: New York California Washington Alaska Hawaii