In the Criminal Justice System, Don't Sacrifice Public Safety for Profit
Analysis
In the Criminal Justice System, Don’t Sacrifice Public Safety for Profit
Financial motivations — and their budgetary effects — have become persistent and self-reinforcing. Nevertheless, we can rebalance the scales of justice, and we must.
Continued efforts to lower incarceration rates will stall unless we address the role that revenue plays in the daily operation of police departments, courts, jails and prisons across the country. So much of these entities’ time and effort goes into generating revenue that the goals of pursuing justice and improving public safety often get pushed to the side.
A new Brennan Center for Justice report delves into the interlocking economic incentives that underpin our justice system. Many of these practices rely on a simple calculus: More people in the justice system means more dollars for agencies, governments and contracted for-profit firms
Some of the revenue streams flow straight out of the pockets of the people who are ticketed, searched, arrested, jailed, tried and sent to jail or prison, while others arise from a growing trade in bed space at correctional and detention facilities.
Excessive incarceration and immigration detention has resulted in a perverse system where people in custody are shuttled among facilities around the country for money.
