The Cost of Incarceration
Posted by Chap at 4/15/2008 7:27 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/14/AR2008041402451.html
Great article in the Wash Post this a.m. on the over-incarceration of America. This is one of the great unreported stories of our time -- kind of like global warming 3-4 years ago.
I speak about this as one who represents people every day in court (occasionally on criminal matters) and has been involved in prison ministry for the past ten years. And, yes, I support the death penalty and "truth in sentencing" laws. But let's have some sanity here.
Virginia has been building prisons at the rate of nearly one a year. Each has a signficant upfrong capital cost ( $100M), as well as ongoing operating costs that absolutely eat up dollars in our budget. And the human cost is, of course, another issue entirely.
Our state laws don't help.
One of the biggest culprits is our felony threshold of $200 for property crimes, the same standard since 1980 when I was a sixth-grader. In other words, if you steal a couple articles of clothing from a department store, you are suddenly looking at a felony.
In North Carolina, the threshold standard is $1,000. Does NC have more property crime than us? I doubt it.
In 2003, Senator Ken Cuccinelli and I brought bipartisan legislation to change the law by raising the standard to $400, a modest reform at best. Of course, we were defeated. Inertia and more government spending is preferable to being "soft on crime."
This problem is growing more acute. And I plan to keep talking about it, whether it's popular or not.
Great point Chap. While on one hand we don't want to be sending the message that it's ok to steal, the money to house these folks has to come from somewhere. I can think of a couple ideas off the top.
1: State law which duplicates or emulates federal law. We have a raft of laws that occupy similar territory as federal law. For example, VSP maintains a state machine gun registry that they are very cryptic about. There's a federal registry too. The Feds take great interest in unregistered machine guns as one would expect. Why keep the Virginia database?
Reckless driving carries a potential year in jail. Reckless is both subjective and 80mph plus which, not to mention any names but... SOME General Assembly members have been nicked for.
You're definitely right to bring this up. Keep this in mind the next time someone brings a bill requesteb by one of the various law enforcement lobbies claiming to need a "critical tool for law enforcement".
Thank you Mr. Y. Fortunately, I don't drive over 80 mph too often but you are right that the enforcement is uneven and penalties can swing wildly. And that costs.
Thanks for bringing up the issue, Chap. I hope you continue to talk about it publicly. It seems that we have thrown common sense out the window. What can be done to put to task those that voted against it in the next election? Our our candidates voicing opinions about this issue?
Chap, who is it that votes against changes like this? I am curious.
I believe we have 3 strike laws for a lot of offenses such as domestic violence and such - how much does that play a part in our incarcerations in Virginia? It is interesting to note that for a crime such as Burglary, Virginia doesn't make it mandatory to report the amount done as incidental damage such as what might be done breaking a door or window to gain access - even if that damage might exceed what would amount to a felony under other circumstances (which also equates to what the magistrate will let you get a warrant for if you bring a suspect up for charges).
I have to agree, changing this to $1000 makes more sense. I am curious as to what arguments folks are using to say it should stay at $200... 3 strike laws notwithstanding - it seems silly to put people in jail for long periods of time for what 20 years ago was probably the equivalent of $30 if you count for inflation... Heck with the dollar devaluing like it is, you might want to shoot for $3000...