PRISON STATISTICS SHOULD MAKE TEXANS FEEL UNEASY

Now that the halcyon days of almost unlimited state spending on
anything with the words "prison" or "criminal justice" are gone, it is
time to step back and assess the impact of the choices we made during
the past decade or two.

Two recent studies bring us face to face with the results of our
spending decisions in Texas, and the picture we see ought to leave us
feeling pretty uncomfortable.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics just reported that 6.6 million people
across the United States are under the control of the criminal justice
system. Texas is the leader of the pack, with more than 755,000 people
under some form of supervision. Compare that to New York, which has a
mere 355,000. In the Lone Star State, one in every 20 adults is in
prison or jail or on probation or parole.

Our crime problem in Texas isn't worse than anywhere else, but for
some reason, we keep trying - unsuccessfully - to address our social
problems through the criminal justice system. That choice comes back
to haunt us. To fund our lust for locking up people, we take money
from the very social service, prevention and education programs that
could respond effectively to our state's social problems. And in the
absence of well-funded prevention programs, the need for new prisons
becomes even greater.

Which leads to the other recent study, published by the Justice Policy
Institute, a Washington think tank. That study found a clear trade-off
in spending in Texas (and throughout the country) between corrections
and higher education. Since 1986, Texas has increased general-fund
spending on higher education by 47 percent, while increasing spending
on corrections by a whopping 346 percent!

That truly is a sad statement about how we choose to invest in the
future of Texas.

But that isn't all: Our spending choices have had a disproportionate
impact on certain members of our community.

The Justice Policy Institute's study also showed that significantly
more African-American men were in the Texas prison system in 2000 than
were in the state's colleges and universities. That clearly is a
reflection of our recent policy and funding choices, because in the
past 20 years, four times as many African-American men were added to
the Texas prison system as were added to our state's colleges and
universities.

And if those figures aren't awful enough, consider that more than one
in 12 African-American adult males in Texas is locked up in a prison.
Many more are in jail, on probation or on parole. Despite the fact
that African-Americans are only 11.5 percent of the population in
Texas, they are 28 percent of all citizens under correctional
supervision here.

This back-to-school time should cause us to reflect on the choices we
have made and the messages we send to our legislators. We must
remember that criminal justice spending decisions have real and
lasting consequences - for other areas of the budget, for groups in
our community and for our ability to respond more effectively to solve
our state's social problems. We must think about our priorities, not
only for today but for our future. And I, for one, would rather invest
in hope than in despair.

Michele Deitch is an Austin-based lawyer and criminal justice policy
consultant.