ANOTHER BENEFIT OF IMPRISONMENT

Re: Crime rate falls faster than ever, March 3.

Although one might bewail the statistic of 2-million criminals behind bars
in the United States, law enforcement officials credit this degree of
incarceration as a strong contributor to the reduced crime rate we are
experiencing.

There is another great benefit that should be recognized. Statistically
criminals are generally younger, poorer and less educated than the law
abiding citizenry. It also has been shown that the children of criminals
are many times more likely to themselves become criminals. The 2-million
offenders in prisons are mostly of the child-creating age and the
segregation by sex of these persons means that while in prison they are not
producing babies. This is not an insignificant fact since that population
might otherwise be producing 50,000-100,000 babies a year, many of whom
would be "crack babies" or children heading for welfare rolls or a criminal
career.

It is said that a crack baby might cost society $80,000 in medical
treatment. A welfare recipient costs maybe $5,000 per year. Prison costs
are perhaps $25,000 per year. So might we credit this eliminated cost
factor as further argument for harsher prison terms?

- -- John Christy Clement, Tierra Verde