PRISON FOR NONVIOLENT CRIMES SHOULD NOT BE THE ONLY OPTION

I liked the commentary, "All those people in jail, and what do we
have to show for it?" (AC-T, March 16), from retired Col. Ned
Cabaniss, which pointed out that the U.S. has the highest
incarceration rate. We have 5 percent of the world's population, but
25 percent of its inmates.

Our drug offense population exceeds Europe's total inmate population.
We should all ask why. In "The Manufacture of Madness" and other
books, Dr. Thomas Szasz argued convincingly that societies create
their own subjective criteria for mental illness --ditto, possibly,
for criminality. For example, until about 100 years ago, there were
no controlled substance statutes in America for drugs and,
consequently, no offenders.

In Britain and elsewhere, drug addicts can register with the state
and buy their drugs legally.

A humane policy like that would save us big bucks and much crime.

Obviously, violent and incorrigible felons must be confined,
sometimes permanently. But for most offenders, there are alternatives
that cost the taxpayer far less or, in the case of fines, nothing.

As a civilized society, we should move beyond the idea of
"punishment" (in the 19th century, capital and corporal punishment
existed for various offenses) and toward the idea of reforming most
offenders in different ways in their communities.

Carl Davis