4 Excuses for the Failure of the Criminal Justice System

If you’re anything like me, you’re a little bit worried about the increase of crime in recent years. From California to Georgia, it seems like the whole world is on fire. A lot of this increase in crime is often blamed on the USA’s failing criminal justice system. Here’s the thing; we can recognize it's not working. But most people don’t seem to know, or care, how to try and patch it up before it’s too late.

Right, so it’s a common consensus that crime is on the rise, right? We see it every day: on the news and social media, even in our own homes and lives. Yes, there is an argument that crime was always this bad or maybe that people have always sucked this much and it’s just our access to technology now that’s allows us to see it on a global scale. To that I say… well you’re probably right. Even with the advent of computers that allow researchers and academics to try to get a fuller, more holistic understanding of crime can be a factor. Just something that you, dear reader, should keep in mind as you read!

Moving right along, here are four excuses (and the debunks!) that people claim as the reason why our criminal justice system is failing

1. We are too soft on crime

Uh, hello? Have you even read the latest minimum sentencing requirements? We are very much not soft on crime.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and we criminalize many acts that other countries do not (like weed use or prostitution. Denmark knows where it’s at).

Since the 1980’s we have also touched our sentencing practices (Reagan’s War of Crime, anyone?)

Oh, and also we are the only western industrialized nation to still use the death penalty and have expanded its implementation to over 50 difference offenses, not just murder. It includes things like Treason and Espionage.

Look at those numbers!

2. Crime is an inescapable companion of any complex, populous industrial society

Seriously? In comparison to other countries Like Japan and Canada, the United States has disproportionately higher crime rates. Plus, controlling for population densities within urban centers in the US shows that there is no correlation between urban centers and crime. On top of that, crime rates vary from city to city and cannot be attributed solely to urbanization. Take the crime rate in Los Angeles in 2014. With a population of over 10 million the violent crime rate per 100,000 people is only 422. Compare that to Anchorage, where the population is a little over 300,000 people which has a violent crime rate of 844 per 100,000 people

3. Crime is committed by young people

Well, this one is kind of true. Yes, 14-24 year old males do tend to have high degrees of criminal activity but that doesn’t explain the increase in crime rates. The percentage of the population for 14-24 year old males in 1995-2003 is similar to the population for 1960, yet the crime rate is five times higher.

4. We do not know how to reduce crime

Come on. Really? We do know how to reduce crime, but the failure of the criminal justice system is necessary to maintain our capitalist social order. After all, we know what causes crime; poverty and inequality.

The one way that we can reduce the failure of our criminal justice system is to decrease wealth disparity and work harder to decrease inequality in all shapes and sizes. Only then can we truly begin to change our society’s mind and begin to make repairs to our fractured system.

If you’re interested in reading more, I’d recommend The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison by Jeffrey Reiman.