No

by Chrita Paulin

Created on: December 30, 2007

Crime in America is big business. For decades we have been reading reports where the United States is attempting to reduce the crime rates and to win the war on drugs. We listen to reports of how the United States reduced funding from law enforcement and how that directly impacted the increase in crime statistics throughout the country. The reality is, even if the United States government restores the $2 billion dollar cut that was taken from state and local law enforcement, overall crime will not be reduced.
Crime in this country is an essential part of our economic food chain. Most Americans believe that a criminal costs the taxpayer money because they are forced to pay for their food and accommodations while they are in jail or prison. The reality is, however, that the average criminal is a money maker for both government and private industries alike. Let's look at some of the ways in which crime pays.
1. Every time a person is tried for a crime, the government bonds their case. The federal, county and/or state where it originated from places a value on the crime with that person's name and social security number attached to it. These bonds are later put on the open market for private investors. Investors purchase these bonds for a fraction of the cost (often times in the millions of dollars) and then takes them to the bank. The bank then increases the amount of the bond, often up to 200% and later sells them in the form of securities. The profits from the sale of such bonds and securities are huge. Some have said that Wal-Mart is one of the major investors of prison-bonds. It has also been said that the profits from prison bonds are so large, that the U.S. government has used some of these profits to help fund some of the wars.
2. When a criminal is convicted, they then become virtually free labor for the penal system. Most jails and prisons make a product for sale in the private sector. Not unlike the stories of old when the criminals where making vehicle tags, there are a number of services that inmates provide. Some of these services include laundry services, book printing, computer recycling, etc. In the past prison labor was only able to be used for products utilized by the federal government but today, that is not the case. Selling goods and services to private industry wields the prison systems huge annual profits ranging in billions of dollars.
3. Several large companies such as Embarq and AT&T, to name a few, have joined in on providing phone systems for the prisons. These companies often mark up the cost of a call to three and four times the normal cost of a call. The burden of paying for these calls falls on the family members of the inmates. Nonetheless, the price-gouging is allowed and high profits are made.
4. Many companies are selling products such as toilet-paper, soap, blankets, fences, etc. to the prison systems for high profit. Security companies who sell monitoring systems, vests, lights, etc. are also making huge profits. The building of new jails throughout the country pumps large amounts of money into local economies. The construction industries as well as companies that provide support services stand to make huge profits.
5. The government is now privatizing a number of the prisons and jails. There is great competition amongst companies to take over the maintenance and control of these jails. This fact alone shows that there is profitability in prisons. Companies would not compete for the job if they were not able to make profit from it. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is one of the largest owner and operator of privatized correction facilities in the United States. CCA is on the New York Stock Exchange and their stocks are currently being traded at $29.12 per share.
6. Lastly, the police officers, lawyers, judges and others that play a part in the adjudication of these criminals all profit from the legal process. Police and Sheriff Unions as well as lawyers all make money.
It is a cycle. As mentioned before, crime is one component of our economic food chain. The local, state and federal governments make money by selling goods manufactured from prison labor. The police unions and lawyers make money from finding and either defending or prosecuting the criminal. Private industry makes money from selling goods and services to the penal system. Everyone makes money except the criminal.
With crime being such a big business, one must ask,how do they ensure that they continue to make a profit? How does the penal system continue to ensure that investors and stake holders make their money? Well, they must ensure that there continues to be a product for market. In this case, the product is the criminal. How do they ensure the product, they continue to arrest people. In order to ensure they arrest enough people, they focus on the non-violent offender. They focus on people with small amounts of drugs, child support issues, traffic violations, etc. They continue to make laws that enable them to ensure these people spend time behind bars for these non-violent crimes. Have you ever wondered why the penalties are more severe for a person having crack-cocaine (cheaper and readily available on the streets), than for a person using powdered cocaine (the drug of choice for the upper-class). Aren't they both a drug? Shouldn't they both receive the same sentence? The truth of the matter is, the laws are structured so that certain groups of people are highly targeted. Unfortunately, the poor and minorities often fall in this category. They are the ones that have become guaranteed products for the profitable prison systems. They are this country's collateral damage.
To answer the question,If the US government restores $2 billion cut from state and local law enforcement, will crime be reduced, the answer is NO. It just won't pay.

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