Overcriminalization significantly undermines human flourishing and social well-being by harming the family, social networks, and social citizenship. Additionally, it prevents capable men and women from utilizing their creative capacities in the marketplace. This creates vast issues involving relations with family while incarcerated and reintegration into society after release. On the economic side, draconian cash bail systems undermine justice through basing someone's ability to attain pre-trial release upon their wealth, not their actual threat to society.
"One problem with using recidivism as a primary measure of success is that it misleads the public and policymakers by focusing on negative rather than positive outcomes. It also ignores the structural conditions around an individual’s life that push them into the justice system and act as barriers to successful reentry."
Vera Institute of Justice
August 7, 2018
Read More"The RAND study found that every dollar spent on prison education could save up to $5 in costs during the first three years after a prisoner is released. A rigorous cost-benefit analysis of prison programs by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy found that the benefits of both post-secondary education for prisoners and vocational educational programs far outweighed the costs in that state. The institute found a benefit after costs of more than $24,600 per participant for programs run out of the state’s prisons."
USA Today
July 27, 2018
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