Pubdate: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 Source: Capital Times, The (WI) Copyright: 2006 The Capital Times Contact: http://www.madison.com/tct/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/73 Author: David Callender Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?247 (Crime Policy - United States) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) SPIRALING PRISON COSTS WILL SWAMP STATE, LAWYER WARNS Ever-rising prison costs will eventually swamp other state spending - including the University of Wisconsin's budget - unless prosecutors and judges are forced to consider the cost of their sentencing decisions, warns veteran criminal defense attorney Steve Hurley. Hurley told the Dane County Bar Association on Tuesday that crime has declined steadily both nationwide and in Wisconsin over the past 17 years. But during that same period, prison populations have risen steadily and the United States now has the largest prison population of any nation in the world. And although they remain a minority in society, blacks make up a majority of the nation's prison population, with Wisconsin having the highest incarceration rate among African-Americans of any state. Hurley argued that a generation of lawmakers, prosecutors, and judges have endorsed tougher penalties without considering the financial consequences. "There's a peculiar rule in the Legislature that no bill may be brought up without a cost estimate except for criminal laws," he said. "We have been passing bills with no notion what the cost to the taxpayers will be." The most extreme case, Hurley said, was the 1999 "truth in sentencing" law that eliminated parole and early release and required inmates to serve their full sentences behind bars. Hurley, who served on an advisory panel to implement the law, said truth in sentencing was supposed to make it easier for everyone in the criminal justice system to know how long an offender would remain behind bars. But at the last minute, lawmakers doubled the penalties for most crimes and now judges often impose the maximum sentence in order to make themselves look tough on crime to voters. The longer sentences has translated into higher prison costs, he said. In 1999, it cost an average of $20,000 a year to keep an inmate in prison, but in just six years, that figure rose to $25,000. Burned-out boomers: Hurley disputed the notion that the streets are safer because more criminals are in prison. "Absolutely not," he said. "There is no credible study that shows any such cause and effect." Instead, he said, the crime rate has been driven by demographics. Younger people - especially young men between 17 and 30 - tend to commit the most crimes, and once they age the crime rate declines. "The biggest crime wave ever was for the baby boomers," he said, noting that 17 years ago, "the boomers hit their 40s and they stopped committing crimes." During that same period, however, lawmakers started increasing penalties for drug offenses and now drug offenders are clogging the prison system. "One-third of all inmates have no history of violence," he said, adding that even more are considered violent only because they have some minor violent offense in their past. Hurley said Wisconsin could lower its prison population system by adopting a funding system for adult offenders similar to what it already has for juveniles. Counties currently get a pot of money, known as youth aids, that they can spend either on programs for juveniles or to send them to state institutions. But typically, the money doesn't cover the full cost of sending a juvenile to a state facility, which means the difference has to be made up with property taxes. That gap creates an incentive for judges, prosecutors, and other county officials to find cheaper solutions, Hurley said, adding that Minnesota has a similar system in place for adult offenders. As a result, he said, Minnesota has a much lower incarceration rate and much lower spending on prisons, even as it has a crime rate roughly comparable to Wisconsin's. Hurley noted that the state spends more on prisons than it does on the UW System. While Gov. Jim Doyle has sought to slow the growth of spending on prisons, Hurley argued that the issue is really not under the governor's control. "It's time that judges change. It's time they face the facts, because in giving out these sentences, they are costing you our children's futures. And they won't change until you, as voters, demand that they change," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake