The Future of Crime and Punishment: Smart Policies for Reducing Crime and Saving Money

268 Pages·2016·2.76 MB·English

by  William R. Kelly

THE FUTURE OF CRIME
AND PUNISHMENT
Praise for
The Future of Crime and Punishment
“In The Future of Crime and Punishment, William R. Kelly tells us where crime and
justice policy has been and where it needs to go. Drawing on a wealth of scholarship,
Kelly incisively diagnoses the misdirections and misspending that have left America
holding the tab, with far too little to show for it. More important, he identifies critical
lessonsfrommistakesofthepastandpresentscompelling,research-basedstrategiesfor
advancingpublicsafetyandjustice.”—DanielP.Mears,PhD,MarkC.StaffordProfes-
sorofCriminology,FloridaStateUniversity
“Consensus now exists that the punishment paradigm that guided American criminal
justice policy for four decades is bankrupt. Kelly diagnoses why this is so, but he also
instructsusonhow,atthisuniquepolicyturningpoint,tobesmartratherthantoughon
crime.Clearlywrittenandcompellinglyargued,thisvolumeisaninvaluableresourcefor
scholarsandidealforclassroomuse.”—FrancisT.Cullen,distinguishedresearchpro-
fessoremeritus,UniversityofCincinnati
“WilliamKellyoffersacomprehensive,insightfullookintotheworldofcriminaljustice.
Kellygrabsthereaderfromtheinitialpagesandmaintainsthatlevelofengagementashe
takes his audience on a historical journey through the U.S. criminal justice system—
hittingonmajorpoliticalandpolicyelementsthathavecontributedtomassover-incarcer-
ation.Thisbookisamust-readforeveryonewhohaseverconsideredourcriminaljustice
systemandasked‘howdidwegethere?’or‘howcanwefixit?’”—MaxineL.Bryant,
PhD,professorofcriminaljustice,ArmstrongStateUniversity,Savannah,Georgia
“Thisbookisamust-readforanyoneinterestedinunderstandingwhypunishmentalone
willnotworkinchangingcriminalbehavior.Kellyoffersathought-provokinganalysisof
thecriminaljusticesystemandprovidesaroadmapforchanginghowwedobusiness.”
—EdwardLatessa,UniversityofCincinnati
THE FUTURE OF CRIME
AND PUNISHMENT
Smart Policies for Reducing Crime
and Saving Money
William R. Kelly
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
PublishedbyRowman&Littlefield
AwhollyownedsubsidiaryofTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc.
4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706
www.rowman.com
UnitA,WhitacreMews,26-34StannaryStreet,LondonSE114AB
Copyright©2016byRowman&Littlefield
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorby
anyelectronicormechanicalmeans,includinginformationstorageandretrieval
systems,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewer
whomayquotepassagesinareview.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Kelly,W.R.(WilliamRobert),1950–author.
Title:Thefutureofcrimeandpunishment:smartpoliciesforreducingcrimeandsavingmoney/
WilliamR.Kelly.
Description:Lanham:Rowman&Littlefield,2016.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2015048688(print)|LCCN2015049333(ebook)|ISBN9781442264816(cloth:
alk.paper)|ISBN9781442264823(electronic)
Subjects:LCSH:Criminaljustice,Administration—UnitedStates.|Crime—UnitedStates.|Punish-
ment—UnitedStates.
Classification:LCCHV9950.K4542016(print)|LCCHV9950(ebook)|DDC364.40973—dc23
LCrecordavailableathttp://lccn.loc.gov/2015048688
TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsof
AmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaperfor
PrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1 AmericanCriminalJustice:ThePunishmentIstheCrime 9
2 TheHighCostofFailure 45
3 WhyPeopleCommitCrimeandWhatWeCanDoaboutIt 67
4 DiversionfromTraditionalCriminalProsecutionand
Punishment 91
5 ChangingProsecutionandSentencing 103
6 RethinkingPunishment 133
7 Drugs,Guns,andGangs 159
8 JuvenileJustice:TheCriticalOpportunity 187
9 Conclusions 215
Notes 231
References 241
Index 251
v

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
M
anyindividualshaveplayedverykeyrolesinthewritingofthisbook,
andIwouldliketotakethisopportunitytoacknowledgeandthankthem.
First, and most important, my wife, Emily, has made all of this possible
by believing in me, supporting and encouraging me, and giving me the
time and space to go down this road. Emily, you are quite a gift. Thank
youforbeinginmylife.
TheideaforthisbookoriginatedinaconversationIhadwithmygood
friend Robert Pitman, who at the time was the U.S. attorney for the
WesternDistrictofTexas.Henowservesasafederaldistrictcourtjudge
in the same judicial district. Just after I finished Criminal Justice at the
Crossroads, a book aimed more at academics, researchers, lawyers, and
practitioners,RobertsaidIshouldwriteabookoncriminaljusticereform
thatbroughttheissuestoabroaderaudienceofnonacademicsandnonex-
pertsin crimeandjustice matters. Theintendedaudience for thisbookis
individuals who are interested in a variety of issues, such as crime, pun-
ishment, public policy, recidivism, mental health, neuroscience, drug-
control policy, public spending, politics, and probably a couple of dozen
others.Thankyou,Robert.Ithinkitwasaterrificidea!
I wish to thank my dear friends Sabrina and Bill Streusand for their
enduring friendship, support, encouragement, and enthusiasm for this
book, the prior one, and the one that is under way. Bill is a psychiatrist
and provided very important advice and answered a variety of questions
regarding psychiatric and neurodevelopmental matters as they relate to
criminal offending. Sabrina and Bill also generously shared Casa de
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Streusand de Durango, a beautiful piece of heaven that is an excellent
venue for book writing. Bill, Robert Pitman, and I have launched a col-
laborative book on criminal intent or culpability. It looks at the legal,
psychiatric and neurodevelopmental, and criminal justice policy aspects
ofcriminalresponsibility.
Sheldon Ekland-Olson, a longtime friend, colleague, and coauthor,
willingly read drafts and provided excellent critiques, which have ren-
deredtheendproductmuchimproved.Thankyou.MyfriendDanMears,
acriminologistatFloridaStateUniversityandapriorgraduatestudentof
mine, read drafts of chapters and raised a number of very important
points. Both Sheldon and Dan encouraged me to keep going down this
pathofwritingforabroaderaudience.
Patricia Sanchez provided valuable research assistance on chapter 7
when she was an undergraduate student of mine at the University of
Texas at Austin. She just recently began doctoral studies at the John Jay
CollegeofCriminalJustice.
I also asked a handful of friends and relatives who I believe represent
the audience I had in mind to read sample chapters. Jack Gray, Robert
Pitman, Maydelle and Sam Fason, Frances and Oskar Cerbins, and Jerry
Eyink all dutifully provided invaluable feedback that led to significant
changes but also affirmed that they thought this book was a really good,
timelyidea.Ithankthemfortheirinterestandsupport.
The editors at Rowman & Littlefield, particularly Kathryn Knigge,
have been a delight. I thank you for making this process extraordinarily
pleasantandefficient.
Finally, I wish to thank the several thousand students who, over the
pastfiveyearsorso,havehadtounwittinglytestdrivemanyoftheideas
that are offered here. Their reactions have been very helpful in the pro-
cessofdevelopingsomeofthecentralthemesinthisbook.